


You Can Be King Again

by Kentario



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, my first long fic, strap in this is a long one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21761710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kentario/pseuds/Kentario
Summary: ''If only we had met a few years earlier.''Someone met him in time and changed the course of his life, and many others by extent.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Kurusu Akira & Phantom Thieves of Hearts
Kudos: 25





	1. Wings of Rebellion

Though he’d been tossed away for his actions, he still thought his decision right.

That didn’t change how he was wandering around Yongen-Jaya, looking for his parole officer’s house. It was a peaceful place so the move wouldn’t be quite as jarring as living in the heart of Tokyo like Shibuya.

He found the house with the plaque reading ‘’Sakura Sojiro’’ but when he rang the doorbell, no one answered. A mailman told him about the cafe his caretaker ran and was probably in at the moment. Akira thanked the man and set off to find Leblanc.

The walk wasn’t long and he soon stood under an awning, reading a sign of the cafe’s name. The sign read open. He opened the door and went inside.

It was quite retro and compact. Old upholstery chairs in booths and a counter with a few books. The lights had stained glass lightshades. Behind the counter stood a man with a tasteful goatee and a green apron.

He looked surprised, though it was subtle, a raise of eyebrows. ‘’Oh, that’s today?’’ So his arrival had been forgotten about? Not very surprising but it still stung. He looked like a man who’d had an eventful life and this cafe was his respite from the rush of Tokyo.

A woman sat at the counter, a girl with long ginger hair in the seat next to her. She seemed to be hiding behind the woman and trying to be subtle about it. He tried to give a harmless smile and the girl ducked. The woman chuckled. ‘’It’s okay, Futaba.’’ She gave the girl an affectionate look, like a mother.

‘’You don’t know that,’’ came a young girl’s voice Akira assumed to be Futaba.

The man sighed and walked around the counter up to Akira. ‘’So you’re the kid, huh?’’ Akira tried to give a meek nod. ‘’Come on then,’’ he said and turned to walk up a set of stairs Akira hadn’t noticed.

What he saw once he was up there could only be described as a storage space. It was dusty and abandoned, some things looking like they could be from the cafe. Some things that looked like they’d been damaged, but not enough to be thrown out, probably kept as a back up if anything else broke.

‘’So, here it is.’’ Sakura pointed at a box, ‘’and that’s your stuff. I’m not going to give you things like furniture other than what’s here already. There’s a bathhouse across the street, along with a laundromat.’’ He pointed out the grimy window.

This was… different. Akira nodded, determined not to appear uncooperative.

‘’I only make curry here so that’s all you can get.’’ It did smell quite nice so he was glad he could have some. It might even balance out living in an attic. ‘’And here’s a journal.’’ Sakura gave him a book with black covers. He took it numbly. It felt like fake leather. ‘’This is for you to record your weekly activities. I’ll check it bi-weekly to make sure you’re not getting up to trouble.’’

Akira was still standing there looking at the book when Sakura walked down the stairs again. He looked around the room, the dust, the clutter. He spotted something that resembled a bed and went to sit on it.

He fell back and was surprised to find no cloud of kicked up dust. It would seem the bedding was fresh. That gave him some hope of being treated with some semblance of respect. He was still human. That was more than his parents thought.

He sat back up and sighed. It was a start.

***

He worked for a few hours, dusting the shelves, wiping any surface he could find with a wet cloth he got from downstairs - where he saw the trio chatting on - moving the stuff around to be more compact so the majority of the room was open. He scrubbed the floors to get rid of the dust that had fallen and whatever else built up over who knew how long.

He ended up with a pretty comfy room on his hands. A bed (cinder blocks with a futon on top of boards), an old sofa and a worktable with a plastic sheet covering whatever clutter is there, but he could handle it another time. He could just feel that he would like the place.

He heard a whistle behind him and turned to find Sakura. ‘’Damn, kid, didn’t expect you to actually clean.’’ No matter how he tried to hide it, Akira could hear Sakura was at least a little impressed.  _ The Hierophant _ , he thought, though he didn’t know why.

‘’It’s near the end of the day so you can have some of the leftover curry. We’re going to your school tomorrow to introduce you to your teacher.’’ He didn’t look back but Akira followed, excited to taste what he’d been smelling for a few hours.

The next day was Sunday and he was still going to school. He wasn’t very happy, but Sakura must be even less. The principal seemed to talk down to him while his homeroom teacher looked exhausted. He felt bad for being another problem on her hands.

The adults were not reserved in expressing their contempt for him. He wasn’t sure he could have counted the times he was threatened to be thrown out on his hands and feet.

The trains were backed up or something, the radio was reporting that a higherup had resigned for reasons unknown. Sakura was even less happy while he waited for traffic to move.

* * *

Akira stood under an awning waiting for the rain to die down so he didn't arrive at his new school soaking wet. The clothes were unfamiliar, the school he’d seen once the previous day, his housing an attic above a cafe. Not the best of situations but he considered it worth upholding his justice.

He stared at the time on his phone display, contemplating whether he should risk getting soaked or being late to his first day.

He was joined by someone wearing the same school uniform but with a skirt and a white hoodie, trying to brush off some water. She had blond hair in pigtails and blue eyes, looking half European, maybe. When the girl noticed him, he expected her to be annoyed with him being another gawker. She looked like a person who got inappropriate comments often. Instead, she smiled at him.

He smiled back. Maybe this won’t be as bad as it could be.

A person stopped their car on the street in front of them and offered a ride to them. Akira declined, the man looked off-putting. Though the girl, Takamaki, agreed, she looked incredibly uncomfortable.

A boy ran up to Akira just as the car pulled away.

‘’Damn that pervert!’’ the boy cursed. Akira noted he had the same uniform too, but for the straps of his suspenders hanging off his pants and a graphic tee. ‘No mo’ rules’, nice. The boy turned to him and scowled. ‘’Why’d you let her get in the car with Kamoshida!?’’

‘’With…’’ he was lost. He barely even knew where he was as it was.

‘’Dude, you don’t know? That’s Kamoshida!’’ Then he seemed to take a better look at Akira. ‘’Wait, you go to Shujin, don’t you? You’re the new kid, aren’t ya?’’

Akira could only nod.

‘’Oh, that’s why you don’t know. I’m Sakamoto Ryuji, by the way.’’ He kicked at the ground. ‘’That bastard! Thinks he’s the king of the castle or some shit…’’

The air seemed to shimmer. Strange, he didn’t think it was hot enough for that quite yet.

‘’We’re gonna be late at this rate, come on,’’ Sakamoto turned away and walked down a walkway that Akira vaguely remembered to be the way to the school. It would seem this kid just picked him up like a lost puppy.

What they came upon was not the school he’d seen the previous day.

‘’What the… When did this get set up?’’ At least he wasn’t the only one confused.

There was a castle of some sort in the place the school used to be. There were manicured shrubs lining the perimeter. The banners on the cobble fence still read Shujin so… He was really confused. Was this what Tokyo was like? Who knew what such a huge city was capable of.

Sakamoto seemed to shake himself off. ‘’Let’s, uh. Let’s go inside, ask around and stuff.’’

The inside looked nothing like what Akira had seen during his whole life, probably because it was gaudy beyond measure, filled with marble columns, gold banisters and red satin curtains. A suit of armour that would take a man taller than any he’d seen before approached them.

‘’Hey, cool suit! Is it real?’’ Sakamoto walked up to the person and was promptly pushed back. He shouted in surprise and fell back against the checkered floor. ‘’Hey, what’s the matter with you!’’ 

The person loomed over him while a second appeared behind Akira. He had a bad feeling about this.

‘’New kid, run!’’

A bit too late for that as they were struck once again and fell into unconsciousness.

***

The next thing Akira was aware of, he was lying on a hard surface in a medieval jail cell, Sakamoto pacing the damp cell and looking for a way out. His head was fuzzy but that wasn’t as important as waking up in a jail cell who knew where.

‘’Hey, you’re awake. Mind helping me find a way out?’’ He must have been out for a while, the kid seemed to have calmed down a bit.

His head pounded when he sat up but he got up despite it. Who knew what would happen if they waited for the armoured people to return. They didn’t end up finding anything that could help: the stone walls were solid, the cobblestone ground stable, the bars facing outside thick and unmoving.

The armoured people returned - they could have been different people, he couldn’t tell - along with a man who resembled the man he’d seen pick up Takamaki. Looking at him hurt his head more, if he thought the castle was gaudy then this was off the charts.

Who thought to wear nothing but a pink speedo, a fluffy red cape and a golden crown only children would think real royalty wore, they were so ridiculous.

The man who looked like Kamoshida with glowing yellow eyes spoke with a voice that sounded inhuman, ‘’You two have trespassed on my castle!’’

Sakamoto seemed to have regained his ire and yelled back, ‘’Let us out, you bastard!’’

The ‘’king’’ scoffed, ‘’Insolent brat! You have no respect! Your sentence will be…’’ he smiled a wicked smile that made Akira’s skin crawl. ‘’Death.’’

‘’What?!’’

The door to the cell opened and the cell was immediately crowded by the guards. They seemed to look larger in the small space than in the entrance hall. Sakamoto tried to rush to Kamoshida but was thwarted by a guard kicking him in the gut.

Akira tried to reach him to help but two spears crossed in front of him, held by two more guards on either side of him. When he tried to duck away, they shoved him against the wall with the poles under his chin.

‘’If you want to die that badly, just hold on. This one goes first.’’

Kamoshida walked over to Sakamoto writhing on the ground and kicked him, making him gasp for breath.

‘’Hey, kid… Run!’’

Kamoshida laughed and had guards pick Sakamoto up to hold for him to punch.

Akira felt helpless.

A voice spoke to him in his head, booming and challenging.  _ What’s the matter…? Are you simply going to watch? Are you forsaking him to save yourself? Death awaits him if you do nothing. Was your previous decision a mistake then? _

Thinking of leaving that woman to be assaulted made his anger fresh. Of course not!

The pain that grabbed his being was unlike any he’d felt his entire life. His face burned and his head was agony. He heard screaming he guessed was coming from him.

_ Very well… I have heeded your resolve. Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I… Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name, and release thy rage! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to hell itself! _

A mask appeared on his face. He had no idea where it had come from. The guards seemed to have lowered their weapons as he could reach up to scratch at the mask. It itched and the only thing he wanted to do was get it off get it off GET IT OFF! With a spray of blood he tore it off.

It felt incredible.

_ I am the pillager of twilight, Arsene! I am the rebel’s soul that resides within you. If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis. _

He spoke to Arsene, ‘’Give me your power!’’

  
_ Hmph, very well… Detest the enemies before you! Change that animosity into power… and unleash it! Swing your blade! This power of mine is yours! Kill them however you want. Run wild to your heart’s content! _

He felt a manic grin pull his lips wide. Blue flames crawled up his body and he welcomed them. They left him in a dapper outfit he quite liked, chains danced around him. He could feel Arsene loom behind him, his black wings stretching out to encompass the room. Sakamoto looked on in awe. Kamoshida looked terrified.

It was exhilarating.

The guards had backed away, leaving the entrance open. Akira dove for Sakamoto, grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the cell. Sakamoto snapped back to attention and pushed the door closed. Kamoshida cursed at them.

That was an admittedly good idea.

‘’Come on, let’s get outta here!’’

***

As hard as they tried, they couldn’t avoid all of the guards. Some kind of beast appeared in front of them when they stumbled upon a suit of armour, a carved pumpkin with a lantern.

‘’Dude, what do we do!?’’

Akira shook his head. The being he saw before seemed just as strange as this thing. He ripped off the mask, painless this time, and Arsene appeared. He instructed Akira on how to battle - Arsene specialised in curse - and he defeated the enemy with ease, though he felt a little tired.

They ran blindly, the dungeons were winding and maze-like. They ran away from the clunking of metal armour until they found themselves at a dead end, bordered by cells on one side and a drawbridge over a ditch on the other, and skid to a stop, panting. They were quite screwed.

‘’Hey! You there!’’

They whipped around. There was no one there.

‘’Down here!’’

There was a cat. Akira faintly wondered if he had a concussion.

‘’Let me out of here!’’ A cartoon cat with a yellow neckerchief. Akira rubbed at his eyes. It was still there.

Sakamoto seemed to have regained his words. ‘’You look weird.’’

The cat sounded exasperated. ‘’Who cares, come on!’’

‘’What if you’re another enemy?’’ Sakamoto seemed suspicious and, considering the place they were, it was warranted.

It seemed offended. ‘’What?! Of course not!’’

Akira found his voice. ‘’Are you a cat then?’’

‘’No way! If you call me that again, you’ll see what serious business I am,’’ he growled. ‘’I’m Morgana,’’ the not-cat told him with pride.

Sakamoto seemed as sceptical as Akira as he looked at the creature. ‘’Why should we let you out though?’’

Morgana sounded irritated, ‘’I can get you out of here before you get caught, now come on, they’ll be here soon! The key is right there!’’

When he looked, Akira did indeed find a key on the ground before the occupied cell. He picked it up and unlocked the door. The not-cat positively bounced out and sighed in joy. ‘’I’m free!’’

‘’Okay but can you get us out now?’’

The creature turned to them, and Akira thought carrying a head that size on a body that small can’t be comfortable. He pointed to the statue next to the drawbridge. ‘’See this? This is the key.’’

Akira wasn’t sure he wanted to touch a statue that depicted a grinning Kamoshida but did anyway. He pulled at parts of it until the jaw moved. The bridge lowered.

Sakamoto looked at Morgana, baffled. ‘’How did you know that?’’

Morgana crossed his arms, smug. ‘’You’re just amateurs.’’

They traversed the dungeons following the creature, who seemed to know where he was going, at least somewhat. They ended up running into a guard still.

‘’You, newbie!’’ Morgana addressed Akira. ‘’You have a Persona, right? Help me out!’’

‘’Wait, you have one like this guy too?’’ Sakamoto asked. Akira had to agree that, though he didn’t know how these things worked, Morgana looked completely different to him. But he was no expert.

Morgana beamed with pride. ‘’Why yes! Come, Zorro!’’

A creature that could only be a Persona manifested behind the creature, disproportionately larger and with a booming chest and fencing sword.

The guard had turned into what looked like a young girl with fairy wings. Morgana looked from her to Akira. ‘’Show me what you’ve got.’’

Akira nodded and turned to the pixie, remembering what Arsene taught him. He cast a curse spell on the pixie and she dropped to the ground with a wail. ‘’Nice!’’ Morgana cheered, ‘’you got her weakness! Guess you’re good at something after all.’’

Akira felt a surge of fondness at hearing the creature’s praise. He wasn’t sure why he was warming up to him this fast, though. Maybe the cat part.

Morgana saw him falter and told him, ‘’You got her weakness, so you can do one more attack now.’’

Akira nodded and dove in to deal the finishing blow with the dagger that had appeared with his outfit.

He felt a little stronger when the girl wailed and disappeared, leaving behind a few coins.

‘’Money?’’ Sakamoto sounded confused.

Morgana nodded. ‘’Yeah, that’s your loot. Good job!’’

Akira’s costume burned away like it did before, this time leaving his school uniform. He looked down in surprise while Morgana hummed. ‘’It changed back because your power is still incomplete, I think.’’

The rest of the way passed in a similar manner, Morgana giving tips and instructions on how to avoid guards and how to ambush others. They seemed comical: some looked like Jack-o-lanterns, others like demons. Most of the way was getting out of the dungeons. In some of the cells they saw students in the Shujin gym uniforms. Morgana urged them to keep going.

Soon enough, they were at the doors of the castle. They were shut and wouldn’t open no matter how hard Sakamoto kicked. Morgana laughed, ‘’Complete amateurs! What thief uses the front door!’’ He snickered as he led them to a side door and pointed them to a vent.

‘’You should go back to your world now, I have some things still left to do here. Next time you’re here, I’ll help you if you help me!’’ And he ran off.

The boys could only stare after the otherworldly creature going back to the otherworldly place. They climbed through the vent and ended up outside.

Akira heard a ping from his phone and pulled it from his pocket, the other hand comfortable in his jacket pocket. He quite missed the outfit.

The phone showed the red tinted app, open on something that resembled a navigator. The name of the teacher, the school, and the castle were listed as their location. ‘’Huh.’’

Sakamoto came to look at his phone. ‘’What’s up? Wh- what is that? Some kinda app?’’

Akira shrugged and decided to try pressing a button that looked good. It seemed the one he chose was right as the world shifted around them.

‘’Navigation complete.’’

The rain had stopped and they stood in a Tokyo alley. Akira felt a rush of exhaustion overcome him, he braced a hand against a nearby wall.

‘’Yo dude, you alright?’’

He smiled at Sakamoto. ‘’Yeah, just tired.’’

Sakamoto nodded. ‘’Yeah, makes sense. Could be a concussion? You gonna be okay?’’

Akira nodded and left the alley. He had a feeling that despite the appearance of a problem child, this boy was going to be a good friend in this new place. He had a good heart.

On their way to the school, a couple of police officers stopped them. ‘’Hey, you two!’’ People wearing school uniforms out and about during classes, right. They turned to the officers. ‘’Are you from Shujin? Are you cutting class?’’

Sakamoto vehemently denied this, ‘’No way! We were on our way to school and got stuck in some sort of weird castle and…’’

One of the officers shook his head. ‘’What nonsense is this…’’ He addressed Akira. ‘’Do you know this guy?’’

‘This guy’ tried to save his life, Akira felt he owed it to the guy to stick with him. He nodded.

‘’You better go to class now or we’ll call your school, okay?’’

Sakamoto shook his head. ‘’Yeah, yeah, we’re going…’’

On the stairs in front of the school was Kamoshida, waiting for them. Akira was scared he would remember the castle but, strangely enough, he didn’t. He did look at Akira with a weird look, though.

He sneered. ‘’Playing hookie again, Sakamoto?’’

Sakamoto seemed quite ready to introduce Kamoshida to his fist. Thankfully he had the self control to just scoff and stomp past him inside the school.

Kamoshida turned to him and glowered. ‘’Late on the first day? I suggest you don’t fuck this up. This is the only school that would take a criminal like you,’’ and, like a king dismissing his charges, he swept away to the door.

Akira sighed and went inside. It would seem it was a break since the halls were crowded with students. He remembered being told to go to the staff break room on the second floor. There he found a room packed with folders of papers, piles of papers, all the things he would expect from teachers.

Kawakami noticed him and got up from her seat at a computer with a sigh. ‘’Really, late on the first day? By four periods, even!’’

He wasn’t sure how to tell her about where he’d actually been. Her disappointment stung more than he expected it to.

On the way to their classroom he heard mutters about ‘’that guy’’ who he could only assume was him. How did these even start before he got inside?

He was introduced to the class - ‘’Kurusu-kun was feeling unwell this morning’’ - and showed to a seat behind the girl he saw that morning. It felt like forever ago. She smiled at him and he sat down, relieved that she was safe.

Immediately the class was overrun with rumours. About him looking normal but being a criminal, a threat, ready to beat up anyone nearby for one wrong look, and who knew what else. He wondered where they had come from.

Other than himself, Takamaki was also the subject of rumours. Of sleeping with the teacher? He felt there was definitely more to that story. She’d looked so uncomfortable.

Kawakami told the class to settle down with a tired tone. ‘’There’s a sports festival in two days, I hope you remember this time?’’

During the break between classes, she approached him.

‘’Hey, Kurusu-kun. Please stay out of trouble and… Stay away from Sakamoto. That kid’s trouble you don’t need.’’

The same kid who’d told him to run while he was trapped?

Speaking of, Sakamoto walked up to him after Kawakami left. He looked to Akira and lowered his voice. ‘’Hey, lunch. The roof.’’ And he left, just like that.

Akira blinked at his retreating back. He couldn’t deny he was curious.

***

The weather had turned completely to being sunny. The roof door had a sign prohibiting entry. It was unlocked so he pushed it open. There were old desks and chairs, as he expected, but also planters. Sakamoto sat on a desk, tipping a chair with his foot, the other tapping on the ground anxiously. When he heard the door open, he perked up and waved at him.

‘’Hey, it’s you. Glad you decided to come.’’ He seemed to remember something and got sheepish. ‘’I, uh. Forgot to ask your name. Sorry about that.’’

Akira smiled, glad that he had actually remembered. ‘’No problem, Sakamoto-kun. Kurusu Akira.’’

Sakamoto groaned, ‘’Ugh, don’t do that, call me Ryuji! Can I call you Akira?’’

He blinked, surprised, and agreed.

‘’Kawakami warned you about me, yeah?’’ At his nod, Ryuji sighed. ‘’Figures. She doesn’t like me. You gonna associate yourself with ‘’trouble’’?’’ he said with obvious derision.

Akira nodded. ‘’You tried to save me. You’re not a bad guy.’’

Ryuji smirked. ‘’Thanks, man. You have guts, I’ll tell you that. So, about earlier… Tell me you remember, I might be going crazy.’’ When Akira nodded he sighed in obvious relief. ‘’Oh thank god, I was worried there! Seriously, what was that?! That place, the castle, the jail, your thing!’’

‘’My Persona, Morgana said.’’

‘’Yeah, that! What even was that place? And the cat!’’

Akira shrugged and remembered that something on his phone had been active. He clicked it on and looked for the app. Sure enough, it was there, as innocuous as a red eye icon can be. He opened it and saw Kamoshida in his recent history. He turned the phone around to show Ryuji. ‘’This could help.’’

‘’Oh yeah! Good thinking!’’ Another flash of warmth, he wondered if he was desperate enough to latch onto any person who showed him kindness. ‘’Wanna use it?’’

Akira thought and tilted his head. ‘’This morning when we went, time passed. If we go now, we might miss school and get in trouble.’’

Ryuji hit his palm with his fist in understanding. ‘’Oooh, you’re right, good thinking. After school then?’’

Akira shook his head. ‘’Not today? I’m a bit tired.’’

He nodded. ‘’Oh, sorry, man, sure thing. Rest up and tomorrow, we go again!’’

Ryuji’s enthusiasm drew Akira in and he smiled along with him. ‘’Yeah!’’

‘’So that man was Kamoshida?’’

He groaned. ‘’Yup, that’s him. The king of the castle, now that fits. Ugh.’’ At Akira’s questioning look, he went on, ‘’He’s the gym teacher and volleyball coach, his team went to nationals. He’s an Olympic medallist and the pride of the school so no one can say anything to him. It’s bullshit.’’

‘’There’s nothing to consider, Kamoshida is shady as hell. We’re going again to see what’s up.’’

It was nice to have a friend and a goal already.

* * *

That night, when he fell asleep, he sank into a blue fog and woke up again, but he could feel he was still dreaming. This time he had on some scratchy jumpsuit and an uncomfortable weight on his ankle. He opened his eyes and saw a cell in shades of blue. When he stood up and walked to grab hold of the bars of the cell, he noticed there were people there. A shackle was on his ankle, a chain leading to a heavy looking ball. Old school.

Two girls who couldn’t have been older than twelve stood on either side of his cell, looking remarkably similar. They had matching blue and black outfits and eyepatches covering opposite eyes. One with a braid held a clipboard while the other with buns had a collapsible stick, looking quite like a disciplinarian. He was proven right when the girl struck a bar with her stick and shouted at him.

‘’Stand up straight, prisoner! You are in the presence of our master!’’ The girl looked quite irritated.

He looked up to see the strangest man he’s ever seen seated behind a grand desk in the middle of a room lined with cells similar to his own, but empty. Akira wondered if the man could blink with how wide his eyes were.

‘’Welcome, Trickster, to my Velvet Room,’’ said the man in a voice that was deeper than should be possible. Fitting, as the man didn’t appear human. 

When Akira remained quiet, the stern girl struck the bars again and shouted, ‘’Speak up!’’

He jumped back from the bars, wary of the girl glaring at him in disapproval with an eerie gold eye, then went back to holding them. Where did he even start? ‘’Who are you?’’

‘’I am Igor,’’ the man said. ‘’And those two are your wardens, Caroline and Justine.’’

‘’Why am I here?’’

Igor chuckled, ‘’You have awakened to a very special power. This will aid your rehabilitation.’’

‘’Rehabilitation?’’ Was his head making up a prison in place of the one he didn’t get in real life?

‘’Yes, Trickster. You are on the path to ruin. Should you fail your rehabilitation, you will face it.’’

‘’Ruin?’’ He was getting more confused by the second. He would be lost if he’d even known where he was.

The other girl, who had been quiet so far, spoke, ‘’Foolish prisoner. Our master was clear.’’

He didn’t want more ire directed his way so he held back that nothing here was clear.

‘’What is the power?’’ He had a suspicion.

The man smiled eerily. ‘’It is the Persona, the armor of your heart that you use to face the outside world. A mask, if you will.’’

‘’And Trickster?’’

Those eyes were creeping him out. ‘’You are the person who can change the fate you are set on. I have high hopes for you.’’

‘’What kind of hopes?’’ This was way too ominous for him.

‘’You don’t have to worry; when the time comes, you will know. By the way, do you like the other world navigator? You can use that to go between the Palace and the real world.’’

‘’Palace?’’ He was too lost to even try for longer questions at this point.

‘’For you to be thieves, it’s something I gave you.’’

Caroline spoke up, ‘’It’s a navigation device.’’ So they won’t stop being cryptic.

‘’Using the navigator by yourself may get quite lonely. If anyone wants to help you, you can give them the navigator as well.’’ This guy seemed to bask in attention. The desk was certainly his throne, making him look important.

A shrill bell went off somewhere above him and echoed in the room.

The calmer girl, Justine, said, ‘’Your time is up. Return to your fleeting rest.’’

The world faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made small edits and posted on 1/6/2020. Not much change from canon yet but there will be!


	2. A Good Heart

The trains seemed to always have someone chattering about the suspicious resignation of a transportation employee or something.

After school, he met up with Ryuji, who smiled at him.

‘’Hey, Akira!’’ He nodded at Ryuji with a smile. ‘’You still remember the castle, yeah? You’re the only one I can talk to about this.’’

‘’I do. Want to find it again?’’ He couldn’t deny he was curious as hell.

‘’Yeah! So, we were walking from the station to the school…’’

They walked the same way a few times, finding nothing out of the ordinary. ‘’Maybe it was smaller than we thought? Let’s try again.’’

Akira held up his phone, tired of wasting time walking the same path. Ryuji noticed it and said, ‘’Oh yeah! Sorry, I forgot. There’s nothing on my phone though…’’

Akira opened the app and chose the navigation start. The world shifted around them and with how the air changed, he was glad he didn’t get seasick.

‘’Hey, there it is! Woah, you have that outfit again!’’ He did. He couldn’t help but smile at the tailed coat, the waistcoat, the striking gloves.

‘’You jealous?’’ He couldn’t help sounding a little smug either. This look made him feel powerful.

‘’No, of course not,’’’ he said, not convincing. ‘’The hell is going on here, anyway...’’

The castle loomed above them again, the sky a gloomy purple resembling a fresh bruise.

‘’Hey, you!’’ The not-cat appeared from somewhere, a vent was his best guess. 

‘’You!’’ Ryuji was just as surprised.

‘’The shadows started stirring, figures it’s you two. You’re being too loud!’’

Ryuji grumbled but didn’t shout again. ‘’What is this place? Isn’t it a school?’’

‘’It is.’’

‘’But it’s a castle!’’

‘’This is what the owner of this castle thinks of the school from the perspective of his twisted heart. It’s his castle.’’

‘’Twisted heart? Ugh, tell us in a way we understand!’’ Akira was glad he didn’t have to ask as many questions as he would have had to were he alone.

‘’You just don’t get it-’’ 

‘’Oi!’’

‘’Remember the other students you saw? That’s what happens to them on a daily occurance, in his head at least.’’

‘’Shit, you’re serious…’’

A momentary silence settled over them. Ryuji broke it with a grunt. ‘’Damnit, we have to help them!’’ He walked up to the door and tried to kick it open, like last time. It was massive and wouldn’t budge, again.

‘’You think you can open it like that?’’ Morgana asked. When Ryuji didn’t pay him any mind and kept kicking, he hummed, ‘’you have your reasons for being here, huh. I have no connection to them but I don’t think I could turn my back on a guy like this…’’

‘’Lead the way, Morgana,’’ Akira said. He was a promising lead.

‘’Okay, remember the vent?’’

‘’Why not the door?’’

‘’Because thieves don’t use the front door, duh!’’

‘’Thieves?’’

***

They’d seen imprisoned and injured students before but this was something else.

‘’What the…’’ There were students being struck by volleyballs launched by machines, repeatedly and in many different ways, with no reason other than Kamoshida’s sick pleasure. ‘’What the fuck!’’

‘’They’re not real p-’’

‘’But this is what’s happening! Isn’t it?!’’ Ryuji was outraged.

‘’Well, kinda…’’ 

‘’Then we have to stop that bastard!’’

Akira nodded. ‘’Definitely.’’

Ryuji turned back to watch one of the kids being pelted by volleyballs and groaning in pain. ‘’Hold on, I recognise them! They’re the volleyball team! Let’s ask them what they know at school, yeah?’’

‘’That could help you know what’s cognition and what’s reality,’’ Morgana agreed.

Seeing no further pathways, they left the dungeon to see the castle above. They found an unassuming room that flickered to a classroom before going back to a room with a desk and seats.

‘’What the- is that a classroom?’’

‘’Yeah, this is a safe room. Shadows can’t come in, the distortion is weaker here.’’ Was it just him or did he like Morgana already? ‘’This is another world where distorted desires are materialised. I like to call it a Palace.’’ They sat down at the table, Morgana standing on it, calling attention like a teacher. That was fitting, actually. That word was familiar but before he could ask, Ryuji did.

‘’Palace?’’

‘’He thinks the school is his castle, so this is what materialised.’’

‘’So just because he thinks it’s his castle, it became one? You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!’’

‘’It seems you really hate Kamoshida, huh.’’

Ryuji scoffed. ‘’Hating him is putting it nicely. Everything is his fault!’’

Morgana frowned. ‘’I don’t know what happened, but don’t let your emotions run wild. It can be dangerous.’’

‘’Fine.’’ Ryuji looked over to Akira.

Morgana did as well. ‘’You’re wondering about his outfit, right?’’

‘’Yeah, it’s weird.’’

‘’It’s because of this world. The Palace, everything can be distorted by the heart of its owner. That’s how this school became a castle. To protect against it, you need a strong rebellious will.’’ Morgana gestured to him. ‘’That look shows it - that’s the rebellious image you hold.’’ He smirked. ‘’It looks good.’’

Akira huffed a laugh. Ryuji groaned. Definitely jealous.

‘’So then what are you?’’ Ryuji asked. He had to admit he was wondering that too.

‘’I’m human! I know I am!’’ Morgana sounded defensive. Akira resolved to not question it, the poor guy needed support.

‘‘You look like a cat though.’’

‘’That’s because I lost my true form. I think.’’ Morgana not being sure about something was a little worrying. They’d been depending on him as their guide.

‘’You think?’’ Ryuji sounded skeptical.

‘’But I know how to get it back! That’s why I was here. But, well, I got caught.’’

‘’Then let’s work together,’’ Akira said.

Morgana was relieved. ‘’Yeah! Let’s go?’’

They stood to go but Ryuji stopped them. ‘’Hold on. This might help, right?’’ And handed him a gun. No, a model gun. Still, why would he have that? ‘’It’s not real but it could be useful to scare them!’’

‘’Hm, true.’’

Ryuji shuffled through his pockets and brought out some medicine. Akira had to admit he didn’t think Ryuji would think that far ahead. ‘’This too, you take it.’’

Morgana sighed, ‘’Okay, if you’re done now, let’s go.’’

***

They came upon the entrance hall, judging from the doors that looked similar to the front doors outside. A grand set of stairs split and joined into a platform. Kamoshida was waiting for them, pink speedo, ugly sneer and all.

‘’Finally found you rats scurrying around my castle. Guards!’’ Any hope for escape was gone as they were quickly surrounded.

‘’There’s no way you’ll win, Kamoshida!’’

He just laughed in the strange otherworldly voice. ‘’There’s nothing you can do about it! I have the school respecting everything I do, the principal dances to my tune!’’

Ryuji growled, safe to release his anger on a fake. ‘’We won’t let you keep doing this!’’

Kamoshida gestured around the castle. ‘’A fallen track star against me? You have nothing anymore. Get rid of them!’’

‘’Ryuji, stand back,’’ Akira moved to guard him.

One of the guards turned into a knight in full armor on a horse. Eligor, he heard in his thoughts. He and Morgana fell into formation. 

The Shadow was barely hurt by gunfire and his curse ability. They worked hard to protect Ryuji, fight the Shadow, and heal themselves until Kamoshida spoke again.

‘’You can’t even help your precious friends! Pathetic,’’ the bastard seemed to relish hearing himself talk.

‘’Stop!’’

‘’See, you’re already emotional! You never did have any self control, now the track team is gone because of you!’’

‘’What you did wasn’t practice, that was abuse!’’

‘’I was the coach and you disobeyed. You even punched the teacher, you child!’’ Akira wasn’t sure it was possible to be more condescending than that.

Ryuji was furious. ‘’Yeah, after you insulted my family!’’

‘’Grow a thicker skin,’’ he spat. ‘’Had you not punched me, your leg wouldn’t have needed breaking.’’

_ ‘’Bullshit!’’ _

‘’Hey, Ryuji…’’ Morgana seemed reluctant to interrupt.

‘’Yeah… I fucking hate you, Kamoshida. You’re to blame for everything!’’

Something seemed to strike Ryuji and he screamed in pain. He hunched over and groaned. _ You made me wait quite a while. You seek power, correct?  _ He clawed at his head and panted for breath.  _ Then let us form a pact. Since your name has been disgraced already, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc? The “other you” who exists within desires it thus… I am thou, thou art I… There is no turning back… The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth! _

Ryuji’s uniform burned away to reveal an outfit fit for a thug: a leather jacket, a belt of ammo, a red neckerchief and bright yellow gloves. A slate grey mask appeared on his face that he immediately reached up to rip away. With a scream and arch of blood his Persona appeared behind him. What Akira could only describe as a cartoon pirate appeared, ship and all.

‘’Alright, Persona!’’ He laughed in triumph, ‘’Time for some payback!’’

Having a third person on their two person team helped immensely. Ryuji was excited to try anything he could, be it striking with his bat, shooting his gun (however useless it was in this case) or his skill, electric.

When Akira considered it, it fit him. They were lucky the Shadow was weak to it.

The fight was over in no time and they stood in a hall empty of guards.

‘’Nya!’’

Ryuji looked around. ‘’What, another cat?’’

A girl Akira recognised pranced up to Shadow Kamoshida and cuddled against his arm.

‘’Takamaki?!’’ He felt sick just watching them. She was dressed in nothing but a pink bikini and cat ears. Way too much skin once again. ‘’What the hell!’’

‘’It’s another fake, Ryuji!’’ Morgana piped in, similarly disgusted.

‘’She’s mine,’’ Shadow Kamoshida boasted.

‘’The path is clear, time to go!’’ Morgana waved frantically.

‘’You’re disgusting,’’ Ryuji yelled up at him, then turned to follow Akira and Morgana disappearing around a corner.

They ran until they got to the outside of the castle, not much brighter than inside.

‘’Holy shit, Takamaki… That’s so fucked up,’’ Ryuji thought out loud.

‘’She’s not real-’’

‘’But that’s what he thinks of her!’’ Morgana could only look down in agreement. Ryuji cursed again.

They heard the now familiar sound of armour knocking together and calls of the guards. Morgana glanced back at the castle with worry. ‘’Guys, they might find us soon. You can get back, right? You mentioned a navi?’’

‘’Yeah. Hey, wanna go?’’ he asked Akira and he pulled out his phone.

‘’Hey, hold on! You can’t just leave like that!’’ Morgana protested. When they paused to look at him, he seemed to falter. ‘’I, uh… Good job!’’

A beat of silence passed. ‘’Oh. Thanks, Morgana.’’

‘’Now scram!’’

Akira and Ryuji shared a chuckle as he activated the navi and returned to reality.

***

‘’Oh man, I’m tired!’’ Ryuji stretched. They were in the same alley as before. ‘’You?’’

‘’Yeah. That was a lot.’’

Ryuji looked at him closer. ‘’You’re the type that doesn’t let it show, huh. Anyway, it being true is kinda… not surprising, isn’t it? The team being used like slaves?’’ A nod urged him on. ‘’I remember their faces, we’ll have to ask them about it. You’ll help, right?’’

‘’Of course.’’

Ryuji grinned and clapped him on the back, ‘’That’s what I’m talkin’ about!’’

A voice appeared in his mind, unlike any other. A caring woman’s voice he didn’t recognise.  _ I am thou, thou art I… Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. With the birth of the Chariot Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…  _ He felt subtly stronger, like with Ryuji’s help he could overcome anything.

‘’Ugh, I’m so hungry. Wanna go eat?’’

***

At a restaurant Akira hadn’t visited before - though he hadn’t been to much of Tokyo - they sat side by side, each with a bowl of udon. Akira made a mental note to remember it, it was reasonably priced and tasted nice.

Ryuji had inquired about his past and he explained about his parents paying little attention to him, the false assault charge, how his parents seemed to treat him like a ghost, not looking at him, or treating him like a useless criminal.

‘’Man, we really are similar,’’ Ryuji groaned. ‘’That sucks, man.’’

‘’What’s your story?’’

He seemed ashamed of it. He looked down at his bowl. ‘’Well, I… my parents split when I was young, for the best in my opinion, and mom and I have been on our own ever since. Track was the one thing I loved doing and it kept me out of trouble.’’

‘’Not anymore?’’ He had a feeling he knew how this ended, by what he heard in the castle.

‘’Nope. Since that bastard took the team, he abused us constantly. He hated anything that could do better than his precious volleyball,’’ he spat with years old fury. ‘’I decided that was enough and spoke up to him. He insulted me until I punched him. He broke my leg so I couldn’t run anymore.’’ His grip on his chopsticks was tight. ‘’The school took the bastard’s side. Shut down the track team, the guys hate me for it.’’

Akira put a hand on Ryuji’s shoulder. He looked up. ‘’Let’s get you some payback.’’

Ryuji smiled, his face soft. ‘’Thanks, man.’’ Shaking it off, he grabbed some pickled ginger and put it in Akira’s bowl. Akira remembered hearing somewhere that that was impolite but he figured Ryuji couldn’t care less about manners.

‘’I can get it on my own, but thanks.’’

They ate their noodles and drank the broth in comfortable silence, a strong bond formed. Before they split, Ryuji suggested they exchange contact info. Akira agreed.

When he got to the cafe, he saw the woman and the girl again, having a conversation with Sakura - ‘’call me Boss, or Sojiro, anything but that’’ - that they paused at his entrance. ‘’How was your day?’’ He didn’t seem too grumpy around that woman, Akira noted.

‘’Good.’’

‘’Alright, just stay out of trouble.’’ He turned back to the woman with a smile.

Akira took the cue and went upstairs. His phone pinged with a message and he checked it once he’d sat on the bed.

Unknown: hey i wanted to ask something

  
Me: yeah?

Unknown: that thing on ur phone had a red eye right?

Me: yeah

Ryuji: you used that to get to that world right?

Ryuji: its on my phone now

Ryuji: i don’t remember puttin it there!!

Ryuji: this is creepy af

Ryuji: oh well we can use this to go to that place

Ryuji: itd be bad if someone else got it yeesh

Me: we just have to be responsible then

Ryuji: ugh responsible

Ryuji: anyway we gotta find evidence for the corporal punishment

Ryuji: im counting on you! 

Me: I’ve got you, no worries

He couldn’t say he was very surprised to see Ryuji not use punctuation, or plan out his texts to fit in one text. He smiled, then yawned. It had been a long day, hadn’t it? It was late enough to go to bed so he changed to bedclothes and did just that.

* * *

Akira opened his eyes to a blue room, uncomfortable clothes and a weight on his ankle. He got up to stand in front of the door of his cell.

‘’Welcome, Trickster. I see you have discovered bonds.’’ Akira nodded. By now he was sure he wouldn’t be answered so he hopefully guessed what Igor meant right. ‘’They will be useful in your journey but there’s no use in befriending them beyond what’s necessary. That being said…’’

He felt a burst of strength similar as with Ryuji, but different.  _ The Fool. _

‘’Different bonds will give you different abilities, and deepening them will help as well. That is all.’’

And he woke up. That was strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also edited, pretty small edits.


	3. Standstill

The school day passed without much interest until the volleyball rally came. Kamoshida was the center of attention as expected, teammates congratulating him on his skill, girls cheering him on. Takamaki didn’t seem to be impressed.

Akira and Ryuji sat by a wall and chattered until they looked up to see Akira’s classmate Mishima being struck by a ball and falling to the ground. Poor guy already had bandages before this. Kamoshida ran over to him and asked if he was okay.

It was plain to them that that was an act.

Afterwards they found the people Ryuji described separately and asked about what truly happened behind closed doors but to no avail.

Ryuji: hows it going

  
Me: they refused to talk

Ryuji: damn you too   
Ryuji: seems everyones scared of him

Ryuji: but we have a chance with the first year members

Ryuji: they just joined so theyre probably not under his orders

Ryuji: they should be on the third floor

He was right. One of the people he asked mentioned Mishima being willing to talk, but nothing else.

Ryuji: damn were out of time   
Ryuji: how was it

Me: no luck

  
Ryuji: damn   
Ryuji: well lets meet in the courtyard to talk   
  
Akira put his phone away and made his way there. He met up with Ryuji but before they could discuss, Takamaki walked up to them. It was surreal to see her after the illusion in the castle and pretend he hadn’t seen that.

‘’Can I talk to you for a second?’’   
  
Ryuji was less than friendly. ‘’What do you want?’’

‘’What about you? You’re in a different class.’’

‘’We just became friends,’’ he defended himself.

‘’What are you planning to do to Kamoshida?’’ Ah, there it is.

‘’Huh,’’ Ryuji said. ‘’So that’s what’s up. You’re close to him.’’

A darkness flashed over her eyes, gone in a moment. ‘’This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto.’’

‘’You wouldn’t say that if you knew what he was doing behind the scenes, you wouldn’t stick up for him.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’ she sounded genuinely confused.

‘’You wouldn’t get it even if we told you.’’ Akira thought that was too harsh but he felt there was a history between these two.

‘’There’s already rumours spreading about you. Whatever you’re doing, nobody will help you. I just wanted to warn you.’’ Something in that sounded as put upon as the agreement to join Kamoshida in his car. There was something there.

She let them be. Ryuji looked in the distance. ‘’She’s always been a stubborn one.’’

‘’You know her?’’ Akira was quite curious.

‘’Yeah, went to the same middle school. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I couldn’t get anything at all, how about you?’’

‘’Someone mentioned Mishima.’’

‘’Oh yeah, he had special guidance for a while.’’ He hummed. ‘’Now that I think about it, he’s always covered in bruises. Let’s catch him before he leaves.’’

They found Mishima near the school gate. The strike from earlier had developed into a bruise. It looked terrible.

Ryuji approached him. ‘’Hey, can we talk to you?’’

‘’Sakamoto? You too?’’ He already sounded wary.

‘’We just wanna talk. You’re getting some sort of guidance from Kamoshida, right? It’s not abuse?’’ That was a little too forward, but it couldn’t be taken back now.

‘’You’re wrong!’’

‘’What’s with that?’’ He gestured to Mishima’s bruises and bandages. ‘’You took one straight in the face.’’

‘’It’s because I suck…’’ It sounded like something he’d been told instead of his own thoughts.

‘’Oh come on, that’s way too many injuries-’’

‘’It’s because of practice!’’ They didn’t want to stress the kid further. Akira was getting worried and decided to bring a calmer voice to the conversation. Mishima was like a spooked rabbit.

‘’Are they telling you to keep quiet?’’

‘’That’s…’’

‘’What are you doing?’’ Akira’s skin crawled hearing Kamoshida’s voice. ‘’You’re not using your time to practice.’’

Mishima looked like he’d scrounged up the last dregs of his courage. ‘’I’m not feeling well today-’’

‘’You gonna quit?’’ And that sounded like manipulation if he knew anything about it. ‘’You won’t get better without practice.’’

Ryuji stepped in between them. ‘’He says he isn’t feeling well.’’

‘’Are you coming to practice or not?’’

‘’I’m coming...’’ Mishima stepped around Ryuji and stopped behind Kamoshida, his movements reluctant.

Kamoshida openly glared at them. ‘’If you cause a problem, you won’t stay in this school much longer.’’

Ryuji faltered.

‘’You too,’’ he told Akira. ‘’I don’t want you interfering with our practice. Unpleasant rumours are spreading and the students are feeling unsafe.’’

‘’That’s because of you!’’ Ryuji said.

‘’Nonsense. Let’s go, Mishima.’’ He walked off while Mishima lingered.

He spoke quieter so only they heard, ‘’Even if you found evidence, there’s no point. Everyone knows already: the principal, the parents…’’

They gaped at him, Ryuji’s jaw dropping. ‘’No way…’’

‘’Don’t talk to me again,’’ Mishima said, walking away. Again sounding like he’d been told to say that. Ryuji swore.

‘’What do we do now?’’ Akira asked.

‘’We have to ask the others again, we don’t have other options.’’ Even he sounded unsure. Could they stop this?

***

Akira was settling down in his room when his phone buzzed.

Ryuji: hey dont you think its strange

Ryuji: that the principal and parents know

Ryuji: why wouldnt they say anything

Me: probably because of the volleyball team

  
Ryuji: yeah probably

Ryuji: is it because he made the team famous

Ryuji: that doesnt mean they have to put up with the abuse

Me: who was that girl?

Ryuji: takamaki?

Ryuji: shes in the same class as you

Ryuji: im fed up   
Ryuji: tomorrow lets search again   
Ryuji: well show em   
Ryuji: we cant give up

Me: agreed

* * *

The next day they texted in class.

Ryuji: so witnesses   
Ryuji: talk to takamaki first?

Me: is it because she’s Kamoshida’s girlfriend?

Ryuji: nah thats a different topic   
Ryuji: anyway ask her

Ryuji: shes prob heard something

Ryuji: her best friend suzui is on the team

Ryuji: when i asked to talk to suzui she said no   
Ryuji: if we can get takamaki to ask her   
Ryuji: but considering takamaki she prob wont help us

Ryuji: anyway sorry let me think abt it a bit more

Akira focused back on his class. This was not what he expected to be doing a week ago, or when he was shipped off like a defective son.

He saw Suzui near the courtyard later in the day. He approached her as non-threateningly as he could.

She looked from him to the path she was on. ‘’What is it? Oh, am I in the way?’’

‘’Are you hurt?’’ He decided it would be best to be blunt at this point.

‘’Well… Yeah, a little bit,’’ she seemed reluctant to lie. Akira thought Suzui was the type of person who strove to be honest as much as possible. He could appreciate that. ‘’I haven’t seen you before. You’re the transfer student in D class?’’ Everyone knew, huh. A nod urged her on. ‘’This might be me butting in, but you don’t have to worry about the rumours.’’

‘’Why do you say that?’’ He blinked. That was unexpected.

‘’I’m just saying. I’ve experienced the same thing. My friend is misunderstood because of her appearance.’’ She seemed to catch herself. ‘’Oh, sorry for suddenly bringing that up. I have practice now, see you again!’’

Akira watched her run off. He could just tell this was a great person to have as a friend. She had such a welcoming aura.

He met up with Ryuji in the courtyard, in an alcove with vending machines and a table. ‘’Man, what’s going on?’’ He rubbed his head in frustration. Akira had to admit this was getting on his nerves too.

‘’Did you find anything?’’

‘’Does it look like it? Everyone’s saying the same thing Mishima did. Kamoshida must have said something. What can we do? Police won’t believe us. Ugh,’’ he groaned and looked at the sky. ‘’I hate this.’’

‘’Take out the owner of the castle,’’ Akira said. 

‘’How are you planning to do that?’’ They looked around for the source of the voice.

‘’Did you say something?’’ Ryuji whipped around. ‘’Wait, that voice! Morgana?’’

‘’Do you think you’d get away with it?’’

They looked down to find a cat. ‘’That cat’s talking,’’ Ryuji said, deadpan.

‘’I’m not a cat! When I came here, I looked like this! It’s hard work, finding you guys.’’

‘’You came here? You have a smartphone?’’

The black cat with white paws and yellow collar, similar to the bandana Morgana wore in the castle, spoke, ‘’I can do it on my own but I got lost looking for this place.’’

‘’But why’s a cat speaking.’’

‘’Like I know,’’ Akira said.

‘’Can you hear it too?’’

‘’Meow.’’ He couldn’t help it.

‘’Very funny, smartass.’’

‘’You guys have been having trouble with the witnesses,’’ he cut in.

‘’Shut up, cat.’’

‘’I can tell you how to deal with Kamoshida. It’s your best option, just so you know!’’

‘’That irritating looking down on us, that’s definitely Morgana,’’ Ryuji groaned.

Morgana jumped on the table between them and sat, wrapping his tail around his paws. ‘’Still didn’t believe me? Who else would bother talking to you guys?’’

‘’Shut up, your voice is too loud!’’

Some students nearby started asking each other about a cat. ‘’It sounds unhappy, let’s find it,’’ someone said.

‘’Wait,’’ Ryuji looked at Morgana. ‘’Don’t tell me nobody but us can understand you.’’

‘’It would seem so.’’

He groaned again, ‘’What the hell is going on. Anyway, what you mentioned, is it true?’’

‘’You sure are doubtful for a newbie.’’

‘’Just tell us about it.’’

‘’This place is too public,’’ Akira said.

‘’Oh, you're right. Hey, put him in your bag.’’

‘’Oi, what the hell, you would treat me like this?!’’

Somehow they got to the roof without being stopped. Akira put his bag on a nearby vacant table for Morgana to jump out.

‘’Don’t just grab me like that-’’

‘’Oh whatever, you know how we can deal with Kamoshida.’’

Morgana turned all business again. ‘’We should start by attacking the castle.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’The castle, Kamoshida sees the school as it. The real person doesn’t know what happens there but it’s connected to their heart. So that’s why if the Palace disappeared, it would have an effect on the real person.’’

‘’What would happen?’’ They were invested at this point.

‘’That Palace is his distorted desires manifested. If that disappears…’’

‘’The distorted desires disappear,’’ Akira said.

‘’That’s right. You’re a smart one,’’ Morgana remarked. Akira tried to not smile at that.

‘’Are you serious? He’s gonna become a good guy?’’ Ryuji said in disbelief.

‘’To make the Palace disappear, you have to make him have a change of heart. However, even if we get rid of the desires, his crimes won’t disappear. He wouldn’t be able to handle that and, struck with guilt, he would confess to his crimes.’’

‘’Really? We can do that?’’

‘’What we do there won’t be remembered.’’ It sounded like a miracle. ‘’He won’t know it was us.’’

‘’That’s awesome! You’re a great cat,’’ Ryuji seemed impressed.

‘’Not a cat.’’

‘’So, how do we get rid of it?’’

Morgana perked up at that, a thief’s glint in his eye. ‘’We have to steal the Treasure from the Palace.’’

‘’Steal? Treasure??’’

‘’That’s a secret! If you help me out, I’ll tell you.’’

‘’We’re at a dead end with witnesses so we might as well,’’ Ryuji rubbed his neck, looked at him and Akira nodded at him. Sounded solid.

‘’Listen: conditions.’’

‘’Seriously?’’ he seemed put out by more responsibility.

‘’If we fail to take just the distorted desires, we may take his desire to live. He would want to die; you have to be prepared to risk that. By the time I come back, please decide!’’ and he turned tail and disappeared.

A silence passed between them until Ryuji broke it. ‘’That’s risky, man. Let’s try to think of another way, but later. Let’s call it a day for now.’’

On his way home, walking through the Shibuya subway station, his phone buzzed.

Ryuji: i heard something that caught my attention

Ryuji: that suzui person, rumors about her and kamoshida

Ryuji: if theyre true we have to talk to her

Me: what do you mean?

Ryuji: unbelievable   
Ryuji: i know takamaki and suzui from middle school

Ryuji: theyd never be into a guy like kamoshida

Ryuji: why are there rumors about them

Ryuji: ah whatever ill ask aroun

Akira paused to listen to a familiar voice, pretending to be occupied with his phone.

‘’Won’t you cut it out? I’m really not feeling well. Wait, what? Shiho is completely separate from this. ... her starting lineup…’’ Takamaki turned to see him standing suspiciously near her. She said a hurried bye before turning to him with annoyance. ‘’Were you listening?’’

‘’Not on purpose.’’ He was quite proud of his act being good.

It didn’t work, though. She looked at him, skeptical, until he murmured an apology. ‘’How much did you hear?’’

‘’About your friend.’’ Honesty would be the best thing with people tired of lies.

She faltered. ‘’It’s… nothing.’’ And walked into the crowd to lose him.

It didn’t work, again, as Akira was quite invested. It was pretty easy to find a person who looked so distinct. ‘’Leave me alone,’’ she said, half hearted.

‘’I can’t.’’

She groaned. ‘’Why do you have to worry about me so much, jeez.’’

‘’I want to hear your side.’’

Something vulnerable appeared in Takamaki’s expression. ‘’What are you talking about,’’ she grumbled but followed him as he nodded at a nearby Big Bang Burger and led them there.

‘’I don’t really have anything to talk about,’’ she poked the ice in her cup with the straw. ‘’We were just arguing.’’

‘’With Kamoshida?’’

‘’You heard it. You’ve heard the rumours, haven’t you. About me and him.’’ Her face was marred by a grimace. ‘’That we’re together or something. I wouldn’t do anything like that with him.’’ And there it was, the open, raw disgust. ‘’He called me, told me to ask your number. Told me to go to his office.’’

She paused to take a sip, buying time. Her voice was broken, hopeless. ‘’Shiho, if I refuse, she won’t be the starting member.’’

What a horrible situation. This went deeper than simple physical abuse. ‘’Sorry for asking so suddenly.’’ He was glad to know, but if it hurt her to say this…

‘’It’s my fault,’’ she sighed. ‘’Everyone just ignores me. Are you really a bad guy? I don’t think you’re anything like the rumours have you seem.’’

‘’Uh, thanks.’’ Another ally?

‘’I kinda figured the rumours were exaggerated. Seemed like you were sad, or just didn’t have a place.’’ She smiled at him and yeah, ally for sure. ‘’You’re kinda like me, that’s why I was able to talk to you.’’ She looked down at her cup. ‘’I won’t be able to help Shiho…’’

Akira let her think.

‘’Can I change what he wants?’’

‘’Might happen.’’

‘’Don’t joke around,’’ she chastised.

Akira felt he should say it. ‘’Don’t be alone with him. Don’t agree.’’

She looked at him with a little suspicion. ‘’Alright,’’ she smiled at him, warm. ‘’I feel a bit better, I think. I’m gonna head home.’’ She took her cup and hung her bag on her elbow. ‘’Don’t tell anyone about this. I’ll try to think of something to tell him. Well, thanks.’’

Later, when he was lying in his makeshift bed, Ryuji texted him again. He felt his lips stretch into a fond smile. This guy was growing on him fast.

Ryuji: what do you think about what morgana said

Ryuji: about stealing desires or whatever

Ryuji: if we dont do this well kamoshida will die

Ryuji: more or less die anyway

Ryuji: im annoyed by him

Ryuji: but i dont want him to end up dead

Me: yeah, that’d be too much

Ryuji: yeah

Ryuji: i want to do somethin about it but i dont want to be a killer

Ryuji: not much we can do for now is there

This was complicated. He was getting a grasp on the situation and he didn’t like it. The adults supposed to keep them safe fell in line for an abuser?

It seemed Ryuji was done so Akira clicked his phone off and fell into sleep, exhausted after a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small edits again.


	4. Protect

Now that he was listening for it, Akira heard Suzui’s name in the rumours while walking to school. She hadn’t come to the morning meetings, she’d been called by Kamoshida and held late. He was worried.

In class, Morgana was somewhere nearby again. ‘’If you can’t think of another way, just listen to me.’’

Akira tried to radiate ‘’don’t talk in here’’ energy. Ushimaru swept the room with his stern gaze. ‘’Did anyone hear a cat?’’ When no one answered, he sighed. ‘’Rumours about cats, strange… Shut up, people, we’re in the middle of class!’’

Akira checked his phone when it buzzed. He had it on silent, knowing by now there would inevitably be texting.

Ryuji: i cant think of anything!!!

Me: focus on class

Ryuji: theres no time for that what will we do about kamoshida

Me: follow his plan? that’s our best bet

Ryuji: damn that cat

Morgana griped, ‘’He really should listen to me.’’

A student called out, ‘’Hey, look at that!’’

Ushimaru yelled to focus again.

Another one said, ‘’She’s about to jump off!’’ That drew everyone’s attention.

Mishima looked outside and winced. ‘’Suzui…’’

Takamaki heard and turned to see, jumping to her feet. ‘’Shiho!’’

‘’Hey, sit down! Don’t go out!’’

‘’No way, Shiho!’’

The morbid curiosity of the student body was unstoppable. Ryuji caught him in the hallway. ‘’What’s going on?’’

‘’Let’s go to the courtyard.’’ Akira felt heavy, filled with dread.

In the courtyard, on the roof stood Suzui. People were gathered to watch. Akira felt sick. The school nurse was pushing to the front and asking for the homeroom teacher or principal. Takamaki stepped up. She looked desperately up at her best friend. ‘’Why…’’

‘’Ann,’’ Suzui said, faint from the distance. ‘’I’m sorry, I can’t take it anymore.’’

‘’Shiho… You don’t mean… Kamoshida? Shiho!’’

Ryuji looked on, fighting to keep fear from his face. ‘’The volleyball team knows for sure.’’ A teacher told them to go back inside, a futile effort. ‘’That guy, Mishima. He looks strange.’’

Akira looked and agreed. ‘’He knows something.’’

Ryuji nodded. ‘’We’ll get him to spit it out this time.’’

A gasp came from the crowd, the audience. Kobayakawa finally appeared and yelled at the gathered students to go inside.

They caught Mishima after school again. Ryuji grabbed his arm to make sure he stayed put.

‘’Hey, that hurts!’’

‘’Why did you run?’’ the anger in his voice was palpable.

‘’I didn’t run,’’ Mishima said, knowing it wasn’t true.

‘’She jumped off!’’

‘’Please stop!’’

‘’You know something, don’t you?’’ Akira asked. He had a feeling Mishima would listen to a more level headed person.

Ryuji agreed. ‘’Right. I’m not asking you to do anything you don’t want to tell.’’

Mishima gave in. ‘’Suzui… She was called on by Kamoshida.’’

He growled. ‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’The PE room, she was called there several times. It wasn’t just me or Suzui, it was the others too. When Kamoshida was upset, he would call us for extra guidance and hit us.’’

‘’So it was true…’’

‘’It didn’t seem like he was down yesterday but he suddenly called on Suzui. He seemed much more irritated, worse than normal. I don’t know what caused it this time’’

Akira was struck by a wave of horror. Did he do this?

‘’No way, that bastard!’’ Ryuji ran off, too sudden for them to stop him.

‘’Sakamoto probably went to find Kamoshida,’’ Mishima sounded like he was dreading this. ‘’Let’s follow him.’’

In the office near the PE room was Kamoshida, sitting at a table piled high with papers. He turned to them with suspicion in his expression.

‘’Bastard, what did you do to her?!’’ Akira could understand Ryuji’s fury but this might be the time to reign some of it in.

‘’What do you want all of a sudden?’’ He looked irritated. Akira felt sick looking at him.

‘’Don’t pretend you don’t know!’’

‘’Cut it out, you loudmouth.’’

‘’It really got to him,’’ Mishima spoke so quietly compared to Ryuji but he caught their attention with how unexpected it was.

‘’What did you say?’’ Kamoshida said with obvious threat.

‘’I was told to call Suzui here. I’m sure something happened to her here.’’ There was a fire of anger in his eyes.

‘’Accusing me with no evidence, huh. So you don’t want to be a regular member.’’

‘’That’s not-’’

‘’What if something happened, like you imagine? What would you be able to do about it?’’ Kamoshida taunted. ‘’There was a call from the hospital just now; she’s unconscious and with no hope for recovery, you think someone like that can sue me?’’ He smirked, the piece of shit. ‘’No hope, how sad.’’

‘’No way,’’ Mishima was horrified.

‘’Bastard!’’

‘’I have to defend myself again, huh?’’

Akira decided then and there that they would attack his castle and he would be more than fine if he ended up dead.

Ryuji seemed to have the same idea. He rushed forward, only to be stopped by Mishima and Akira grabbing his arms. They had to be more inconspicuous.

‘’Why’d you stop me?’’ Ryuji asked. Even enraged, he seemed to be willing to hear Akira’s input.

Akira tried to say what he couldn’t in enemy territory with his eyes. ‘’No.’’

Ryuji scoffed and shook free. ‘’Fuck it,’’ he said but didn’t attack, which was good for them.

Kamoshida had stood up, trying to loom over them, the arrogant bastard. ‘’Ho ho, you stopped him! You don’t have to hold back, do it,’’ he goaded Ryuji. When they remained standing still, defensive, he barked a laugh. ‘’Oh, you won’t, how expected,’’ he said, mocking. He sat back down and turned away from them, sure that they wouldn’t attack. ‘’Everyone here will be expelled at the next attendance meeting.’’

‘’Wh- You can’t decide that on your own!’’ Mishima floundered.

‘’Who would take you seriously, you pieces of trash. You’re guilty too, Mishima.’’ He turned to smirk at him. ‘’You don’t understand why I left you on the team even though you have no talent.’’

Ryuji turned to him. ‘’Mishima?’’

He grimaced. ‘’I had to do it, he gave me no choice…’’

‘’Get out now, you’re bothering me.’’

‘’Let’s retreat for now,’’ Akira said while leaving. The others followed him.

***

‘’So he made you spread Akira’s criminal record to keep you on the team?’’ Ryuji asked him when they were on their way out of the school.

‘’Yeah,’’ Akira was glad to note there was shame in Mishima’s voice.

‘’Tch, sounds like him alright.’’

‘’I’m sorry…’’

‘’What’s done is done,’’ Akira interrupted before Ryuji could direct his anger where it shouldn’t be. Nothing to be done about that. ‘’We’ll try to handle it, okay, Mishima?’’

‘’What will you do?’’

He smirked. ‘’You’ll see soon enough.’’

They found Morgana by the vending machine near the school, hidden away in a niche. ‘’Ugh, I can’t stand this,’’ Ryuji complained to nobody in particular. ‘’Let’s do this shit.’’

‘’So you’re prepared for the worst case scenario?’’ Morgana sounded grim.

‘’I’m ready. She jumped because of him.’’ There was determination, steely and unstoppable.

‘’Me too,’’ Akira joined. There was no chance they would leave this alone now.

‘’Okay.’’

‘’So you said making a Palace disappear was rough. Have you tried it?’’

‘’When did I say that?’’ Morgana said, confused.

‘’Huh,’’ Ryuji said. ‘’So you were pretending to know?’’

‘’Is it true that you’re being expelled?’’ Takamaki startled them, coming around the corner. ‘’There are rumours already.’’

‘’Ugh, Kamoshida again,’’ Ryuji groaned. ‘’Did you come here just to tell us that?’’

‘’If you’re going to do something to Kamoshida, let me in on it. I can’t let him do something like that to Shiho,’’ she said, voice hard as steel.

‘’This has nothing to do with you, don’t stick your head into this,’’ he dismissed. Akira had to disagree.

‘’I am involved! Shiho is my best friend!’’

‘’Don’t get in the way, Takamaki.’’

‘’No mercy, huh…’’ Morgana pondered.

‘’You gotta be stern with her, she’s a force of nature,’’ Ryuji shook his head and turned away, dismissing Takamaki. ‘’Come on.’’

‘’Alright, thieving time!’’ Morgana said in excitement.

‘’Thieving?’’

‘’Sneaking in, stealing grand treasures, that’s what a grand thief is!’’

‘’I like it,’’ Akira said.

‘’So guys, what’s that app?’’ Morgana asked.

Ryuji showed his phone to him. ‘’We don’t really know either. Ah well, let’s go.’’

They nodded to each other, not noticing Takamaki hanging around nearby.

‘’All right, let’s go crazy!’’ Ryuji said gleefully, back in his thug outfit.

‘’What the hell is this?!’’

‘’What the-! Takamaki!’’ They whipped around to look at her, confused and scared.

‘’Sakamoto?! And you, Kurusu?’’

‘’Why are you here?’’ Ryuji said, exasperated.

‘’I don’t know…’’ she frowned. ‘’What is this place? Where’s the school?’’

‘’I see, she seems to have gotten caught up in the navi,’’ Morgana sounded wise and a little smug.

‘’Hey, does this have something to do with Kamoshida?’’

‘’Takamaki, please leave now,’’ Ryuji groaned. He really seemed to have lost his patience with her years ago.

‘’No!’’

‘’If you make a fuss, the Shadows will find us,’’ Morgana warned.

‘’What is- it talked, is that a demon cat?’’

‘’Demon…’’ poor guy looked heartbroken.

‘’Explain!’’ Takamaki insisted. ‘’I won’t leave until you do.’’

‘’We’ll have to get her out. What else can we do?’’ After a brief silence he sighed. ‘’Alright then. Sorry, Takamaki. Hey Akira, help me out?’’

They held onto Takamaki’s arms, much to her protests, and activated the app to get to the school. Dropping off Takamaki, they returned without a hitch. ‘’We’ll have to be more careful, who knows what a random person could get into over here,’’ Morgana mused.

‘’Man, she found out.’’ Ryuji said to the sky. ‘’We should get this done as soon as possible.’’

‘’So, her name is Takamaki Ann, right?’’ A certain not-cat seemed to have taken a liking to her. ‘’Ann-dono, huh?’’ He shook himself off. ‘’Shadows have realised we’re here, get ready. Counting on you, Joker.’’

‘’Joker? A nickname?’’ Ryuji asked.

‘’No, it’s a codename! Calling thieves by their real name is stupid, right? Besides, if we parade our names in the Palace, we don’t know if that could impact the owner, so just in case.’’

‘’Alright, well, why is he Joker?’’

‘’He’s strong, our trump card.’’

‘’Thanks,’’ Joker smiled. He loved the name.

‘’That’s decided then. Next, Ryuji. Thug.’’

‘’Oi, are you trying to pick a fight with me?! I’ll decide!’’ he griped. ‘’My mask looks like a skull, right?’’

‘’Do you have to ask, of course it is. Skull then?’’

‘’Hell yeah! Now what about you?’’

‘’Cat would work,’’ Joker mentioned, and got a glare for his troubles.

‘’Uh, Mona?’’

‘’Yeah, sure,’’ he shrugged. ‘’Now then, we’re Joker, Skull and Mona. From now on let’s use those.’’

‘’Alright, let’s go!’’

They were running around the castle like they had the previous times, so carried away determined to find Kamoshida that they didn’t notice guards blocking the exits to the room they were in. Once they noticed, it was too late.

‘’Shit!’’

‘’Did you guys antagonise him or something?!’’ Mona sputtered.

‘’Kind of?’’

‘’Guys, focus,’’ Joker said.

Guards by one of the doorways split and Kamoshida entered, smirking and near naked as usual. ‘’How careless of you. This will be your end. Guards!’’

They fell into formation as they were surrounded. There was a new type of enemy among the others, a Bicorn, that was strong to curse when he tried that. Skull and Mona tried to hold up under the assault but soon they were exhausted, Mona unable to heal all of them enough.

Joker felt horrible. He led them into this. He didn’t pay attention. They were struck to the ground, a sword held above Skull the same way it was the first day. Were they going to die?

_ Yours defeated on the ground, will you let them die like this? _

A familiar pain exploded in Joker’s head, all encompassing. He shouted and fell to his knees, grabbing his head.

_ Will you do whatever it takes to protect them? _

_ Yes, always, _ he swore. He would do anything. They were his.

_ Then let us form a contract. I am thou, thou art I. To guard those dearest to your heart, with your own heart and blood. Let nothing touch yours! _

He groaned and felt the ground bump against his head, having fallen forward. This hurt even more than last time. He felt a new mask settle on his face, saw blue light, fire burning away to reveal new clothes. As the pain subsided, he raised his head and got to his feet.

He looked like a hindu prince, dressed in a red and gold tunic, white pants with pearls running up the seams, and an absurd amount of jewelry, even his ears were heavy. He looked to his friends, beaten but awed.

‘’Protect them, Iravan!’’

A naga in even more jewelry and a crimson saree manifested behind him in blue fire, chains whipping from shackles on his wrists around Joker. He had a large mask with tusks and a moustache, fierce and itching to fight, to defend. The mask had snakes as a crown.

He grasped for the skills he had and was amazed. That was more than Arsene had. Rakukaja, Dia, Kouha.

Without thinking he cast Dia on Mona. He could probably heal them up again once he’s eaten some curry. A Shadow attacked Joker while he was busy and he was happy to take it. He would much rather use his chances to heal his friends than to defend himself.

The next chance he had he gave Mona a snack. Mona looked up at him confused. ‘’Joker, attack them, defend yourself!’’

‘’No way, Mona. Heal us up or I will, okay?’’

His eyes were big and sad. ‘’Yeah, okay.’’

‘’What the- Joker! Woah, what’s that getup?!’’ Skull had gotten his bearings back, healed by Mona enough to fight again.

‘’I don’t know either.’’ He felt light on his feet, Iravan lying in coils around him. ‘’Let’s finish this!’’

With more help they were able to fight until Mona found an escape route and they ran as fast as they could to the nearest safe room they could find.

Skull fell back into a chair, almost tipping it over. ‘’Oh my god, what the fuck was that?’’

Mona sat on the table again, making him eye level with them. ‘’We were probably too careless and didn’t notice them gathering… We must do better. That being said,’’ he turned to Joker. ‘’Do you know what happened?’’

He leaned heavily against the table, exhausted like the last time he awakened. ‘’I honestly have no clue,’’ he said flatly. He lifted his arms to look at the long white sleeves with a line of golden buttons keeping it tight, the shorter crimson and silk sleeves, stood up straighter to look at the pants. ‘’This is new.’’

Skull laughed incredulously. ‘’Yeah, no shit! What are you even meant to look like?!’’

He hummed. The amount of jewelry, the expensive looking crown and pearls. ‘’Not a king, I think. Prince?’’

‘’Huh. Could be.’’

They sat in silence for a minute but the curiosity was thick in the air. ‘’Hey Mona, you ever seen anything like this? Can people even have two Personas?’’

‘’Well…’’ He still had that melancholy look on his face. ‘’There was one… but you’re different. Let’s make good use of it, yeah? What skills do you have?’’

‘’Uh, I think it’s… defense buff, heal and bless.’’

‘’Bless? What’s that?’’ Skull asked.

‘’It’s an element, I guess you could say. Like your electricity and my wind. Though it’s been so long since I’ve seen it…’’ Joker was sure what Mona knew would bother him until he pestered him and he spilled. ‘’Well, we should be on our way. Let’s heal up first.’’

Once food was eaten and soda cans drained and squashed, they ventured back out, more cautious now that they’d seen what happens when they’re not.

‘’So how do we get the Treasure?’’ Skull asked softly.

‘’We need to find the best route,’’ Mona said, voice just as low.

‘’Route?’’

‘’Route to the Treasure. Honestly we need a little more power to do it. Yeah, Joker has a new Persona but he still has one person’s energy.’’

‘’Huh, you have a point.’’

‘’Of course I do-’’

‘’Guys,’’ Joker held up his hand. Around the corner came the familiar voices of guards.

‘’We found the princess! Bring her to Lord Kamoshida immediately!’’

The princess? Joker rubbed at the mask over his face. If that was who he thought it was…

‘’Ann-dono! She was taken by the Shadows!’’ Yup. He stifled a groan.

‘’But we took her back!’’ Skull protested.

‘’If she got the navi, it’s possible,’’ Mona said.

‘’Oh, no way, did she get it just like I did?’’ his voice rose but they were lucky the guards had all left to find the Lord to fawn over. ‘’Shit, we let her get away, now she’s caught! God damnit, let’s go find h-’’

A shrill scream cut through the air of the castle. They were quiet for a moment before taking off in a sprint. That sound didn’t bode well. They found the room soon enough, Takamaki bound to a cross and surrounded by guards in the middle of the room.

‘’What is this?’’ she said, distraught.

‘’Shut up, you,’’ Shadow Kamoshida spat at her.

‘’Kamoshida?! What is this place? Where did the school go?’’

‘’I can see why the guards would mistake you for my Ann, you look similar but far too disobedient. Are you scared, little girl?’’ he goaded.

‘’Jeez, what an outfit, are you serious?’’

He gestured around the grandiose room. ‘’This is my castle! My world of desires! You should respect the master of it.’’

‘’What the hell!’’

‘’This sure is an energetic slave.’’

‘’Save the jokes, Kamoshida! You have got to be kidding me.’’

‘’Take her to the dungeons,’’ he scoffed. ‘’I will take you apart piece by piece.’’

The group approached, flanking Joker. ‘’What the hell is going on here,’’ Skull muttered. ‘’He was looking at the girls on the volleyball team like this.’’

‘’Hey look!’’ Mona exclaimed.

‘’Takamaki!’’

‘’Ah, how fun. The gang’s all here,’’ Kamoshida said.

‘’What the hell is he?’’ Takamaki yelled to them.

‘’You kids shouldn’t have come here. Shiho was your fault, you know.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Because you wouldn’t play with me, I had her play with me instead,’’ he said.

‘’Are you fucking kidding me?’’ she muttered, her face contorting. She struggled in her bonds fruitlessly.

‘’Wait!’’ Skull rushed to her, stopped a few steps in by a command.

‘’If you move, she dies. You can watch the show, if you like.’’ He moved to Takamaki, leering at her and looking her up and down.

‘’Stop!’’

‘’Maybe I should start with her clothes...’’

The Ann lookalike bounced in the room and cooed, ‘’That’s so lewd, Master!’’

‘’What should we do?’’ Skull asked in a hushed voice. When no answer came, he growled. ‘’Oi, Takamaki!’’

She let out a garbled laugh. ‘’So this is my karma for Shiho…’’

Kamoshida loomed over her. ‘’You should have made that face from the beginning, sweetheart.’’

‘’I’m sorry, Shiho…’’

Joker straightened up and looked her square in the eye. ‘’Are you going to be his puppet again?’’

‘’What?’’ She looked back, thoughtful. The look in her eyes hardened with anger. ‘’Huh… I don’t want that. That’s right! I don’t want to listen to what this piece of trash has to say! I have to do something…’’

‘’You peasants should be silent!’’ Kamoshida shouted.

‘’Shut up!’’ Takamaki yelled over him, shocking them all. ‘’That’s it, I’m pissed! I have to do something!’’ As soon as the words were out, she spasmed against the cross with a groan of pain. Joker had a feeling he knew what it was.

_ My, it’s taken far too long. Tell me, who is going to avenge her if you don’t? Forgiving him was never an option; such is the scream of the other you that dwells within. I am thou, thou art I! We can finally forge a contract… _

‘’I hear you… Carmen. You’re right. No more holding back!’’ With an impressive show of strength, she pulled her arms free, then freed her legs. A red cat’s mask formed on her face, one she scratched at and pulled off with a scream, falling to the ground.

_ There you go… Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself. Understand? Then I’ll gladly lend you my strength. _

She rose to her feet, grinning and thrilled. Familiar blue fire burned away her school uniform and revealed what could only be called a cat inspired dominatrix outfit, red leather and zippers abundant.

Joker shook himself off and ran to join Takamaki, the others following after a moment of awe. Here’s the manpower they needed!

Their new teammate was confused but running on the high of awakening and helped them near seamlessly. The enemy, a demon sitting on a toilet bowl by the name of Belphegor, was weak to fire, which let Takamaki practice her skills. Fire and healing, useful to have for sure. Her initial clumsiness wore off as she learned, the way she handled the whip almost looking practiced.

‘’No way!’’ Kamoshida was backing away, finally afraid.

‘’Ugh.’’ Takamaki staggered.

‘’Hey, we need to leave,’’ Skull urged.

‘’Are you okay, Ann-dono?’’ Mona ran up to her to look up at her, wide-eyed.

‘’Ann-dono?’’ she asked.

‘’You need to rest!’’

‘’No, I can keep going,’’ she insisted. Joker could remember the high he had when he awakened the first time. Takamaki looked down at herself. ‘’What the hell, what’s this outfit? What is this?!’’

‘’Calm down,’’ Joker said with the level voice he assumed a leader should have.

‘’We have to leave now,’’ Mona said.

‘’Yeah, that’d be good,’’ Skull agreed. ‘’Hey, it’s okay. Let’s get you out of here,’’ his voice had softened considerably, probably out of newfound respect. Guarding their newest member, they left the castle, avoiding battle when possible.

* * *

They slumped against the wall by the school while Ryuji got them drinks. Takamaki panted for breath, the post-awakening exhaustion a familiar sight.

Ryuji held up two cans. ‘’Which one you want?’’

She hesitated. ‘’Something not carbonated.’’

He shrugged. ‘’Both are.’’

She sighed but smiled when Akira pulled out a thermos he’d prepared in the morning and offered it to her. He’d had a feeling they would need good coffee. When she opened it and smelled it, she let out a sigh of joy. ‘’Oh this smells nice!’’

‘’Coffee? Ugh, can’t stand the stuff,’’ Ryuji grumbled.

‘’Good thing you have two sodas now, isn’t it.’’

After a silence of them drinking the drink they each chose, bar Morgana, Takamaki spoke.

‘’I can hardly believe that was real. I mean, a castle, that outfit, a Persona? And you, a talking cat- wait, you said you’re not a cat, didn’t you?’’

Morgana shook his head. ‘’It’s okay, Ann-dono. Are you okay, though?’’

‘’Why do you call me that,’’ she muttered, then said louder, ‘’yeah, I’m fine, just tired.’’

‘’Yes, that’s normal so far,’’ Akira said.

‘’But holy shit, Takamaki! That was badass, didn’t know you had it in you!’’

She grimaced, ‘’I think we’re on the same team now, call me Ann, okay?’’

She got welcoming smiles back. ‘’Sure thing!’’

‘’Oh yeah, here’s my number,’’ she said, then turned her phone to show it. ‘’Don’t want people overhearing, you know.’’

Akira and Ryuji diligently noted it in their contacts, Morgana keeping watch.

‘’So what’s a Persona, anyway?’’

‘’It’s your rebellious spirit, the power you use to fight in that world,’’ Morgana said. He explained what the group had seen so far.

‘’So if what you’re saying is right, we can change Kamoshida’s heart with that place? Make him confess his crimes with his own mouth?’’

Ryuji scuffed his shoe against the ground. ‘’The volleyball team won’t say anything out of fear, the parents and teachers pretend they don’t know. This is our best bet.’’

‘’Then let me help,’’ Ann said. ‘’I want to make him pay for what he did to Shiho.’’

‘’You what?’’ Ryuji stared at her. ‘’You want to come with us?’’

‘’Don’t tell me I’ll be a burden, you saw I can fight!’’ she insisted, and honestly there was no argument from the start.

‘’You’ll be a great help,’’ Akira said and smiled at her. She returned it, glad to not have to fight them.

‘’That’s right!’’ Morgana agreed. ‘’More help!’’

‘’I won’t let him hurt anyone else! If there’s something I can do, I absolutely will.’’

Akira felt something tying him to Ann.  _ The Lovers _ , he heard.

‘’Go rest up now, Ann-dono! Awakenings are very draining.’’

Ryuji nodded fervently, ‘’Yeah, I remember I was dyin’, at Ieast. Hey Akira, you just had another, are you tired?’’

Akira noted that he was indeed as tired as the first time. He really had to ask Morgana about his two Personas.

Morgana came over to look up at him. ‘’I think, now that we have a team, I should stay with you.’’ Though there was a concerned glint in his eye.

Akira smiled at him and put his bag down in front of him to jump in. He was excited to have Morgana with him, he had quickly developed a soft spot for him.

‘’You better treat me right! Sushi regularly!’’

He felt a sense of deja vu overcome him, strange but not something he minded. Morgana may have reminded him of a friend he’d had or something. What friend he would carry on his back, though, he didn’t know.

‘’Hey, so we need a place to meet, yeah? The three of us could get suspicious,’’ Ryuji said.

‘’You’re right, for once,’’ Morgana said from his bag. ‘’The roof? Nobody bothered us there, right?’’

‘’Huh, good idea, for once.’’

‘’Oi, I always have good ideas!’’

When he got to the cafe, the bag on his shoulder heavier than normal but also familiar, he saw the same woman seated in her usual place talking to Sojiro. He was smiling softly. When Akira came inside and the bell announced his presence, he was ready to just walk past like he had before, but the woman looked at him and gestured to the seat next to her. Confused, he obliged, gently setting his bag on the seat on his other side.

‘’We weren’t properly introduced, were we?’’ She had such a kind air around her, truly a mother.

‘’He’s just trouble, don’t bother,’’ Sojiro mumbled.

‘’Nonsense, I’ll judge that for myself,’’ she said without even turning to look at Sojiro. They acted like a married couple. ‘’So what’s your name?’’

Despite her smile, he felt intimidated. A well-meaning adult caught him off guard, it would seem. ‘’Kurusu Akira, ma’am.’’

She chuckled. ‘’Now, no need for that, I don’t bite! I’m Sakura Wakaba, at your service.’’

So he was right? ‘’Pleasure to meet you, Sakura-san.’’

He could see the groan Sojiro wanted to make and held back, but Wakaba laughed again. ‘’Doesn’t seem like much trouble!’’

He felt a familiar sensation.  _ The Consultant _ , he heard.

‘’Just an act, I’m telling you,’’ Sojiro warned.

‘’Hush you.’’

‘’Who is she?’’ Morgana asked, peeking out of the bag.

Sojiro sighed. ‘’And what is that.’’

‘’A cute cat, what else?’’ Wakaba said. ‘’Where’d you get it?’’

‘’He was… wandering, had no home.’’

‘’Restaurants can’t keep animals,’’ Sojiro said but, after a look, amended, ‘’something to take care of could help keep you out of trouble, I guess. What’s its name?’’

‘’He’s Morgana.’’

A second of the adults looking at him strangely. ‘’That’s new,’’ Sojiro said. ‘’Well, I’m guessing you don’t have food for him yet.’’ He turned to the fridge and, after some looking, pulled out a package of fish, cut a small amount up with care, put it in a bowl and put it in front of Akira. ‘’Don’t let customers see him.’’

Morgana let out an excited yelp and perked up, smelling the air. Akira thanked him and headed up, bowl in hand.

‘’That’s what I’m talking about! Now then, that desk will be useful! Tidy it up while I’m busy,’’ Morgana said, then dug in. From the sounds he made, Akira guessed it was good. He got to work on the desk covered in a sheet.

After he was done and sighed in bliss, Morgana sat on the desk he had Akira excavate, tail wrapped primly around him, Akira sat on the chair to face him. He felt like a student.

‘’So then! First thing’s first. People who haven’t been to that world can’t understand what I’m saying when I’m here, so I sound like a regular cat to them.’’

Akira nodded. Makes sense.

‘’I don’t remember anything about myself, but I’m sure I’m human. The distortions have changed my form too, so if we resolve those, I’ll regain my true form,’’ he said, seeming only half sure. Akira smiled to reassure him.

Morgana shook his head. ‘’This will be a deal, so in return for letting me stay, I’ll teach you about thievery!’’

He had to say he was excited to learn.

‘’The loot shadows drop, we can use those things. If you have the right ingredients, you can make things like lockpicks, to start.’’

Akira followed his instructions, seeing as Morgana didn’t have opposable thumbs and couldn’t do it himself, and after a while of tinkering ended up with a lockpick.

‘’There you go! We can use those when we find treasure chests, where we can get money, and gear, and jewels…’’ he cooed.

Someone loved treasure, it seemed. A real bonafide thief. ‘’Alright.’’

His phone buzzed and he picked it up to see a text from Ann.

Ann: hey I forgot to thank you today

Me: no need

Ann: no I want to   
Ann: anyway thank you   
Ann: see you tomorrow

‘’So you use that to communicate?’’ Morgana asked. ‘’I want to type messages too.’’

‘’Messages to Ann?’’ Akira teased.

‘’W-well yeah, she’s great!’’

‘’Sure thing.’’

He felt the loose ties between them tangling tighter together.  _ The Magician _ , he heard.

‘’It’s late! You should go to bed!’’ he tried to distract him.

‘’Late?’’

‘’Yeah! To be a real thief, you must be well rested!’’

With a chuckle and a nod, Akira got changed and went to bed. Didn’t thieves work at night? When he remembered that he wanted to ask about the new Persona, he realised Morgana was already asleep and he was not far either.

  
  
  


_ ‘’What food would you like?’’ _

_ ‘’Fish! Sushi!’’ _

_ ‘’I’ve never had a ca- someone to take care of, but sushi is a bit much for my finances.’’ _

_ ‘’Well okay, just not those cans for cats!’’ _

_ ‘’No problem.’’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited to check and add better wording.


	5. Preparation

Akira woke up, confused. What was that? There was no time to ponder though, as Morgana announced it was time to go to school.

He got dressed and went down, a plate of curry waiting for him. Morgana peeked from his bag. ‘’Well, thieves do have to have a good breakfast.’’

‘’You’re taking the cat to school?’’ Sojiro asked. Akira sat at the counter and nodded. Sojiro sighed, ‘’Just don’t let him get caught, you hear?’’

He dug into his food and finished it quickly. He could understand how Sojiro had regulars, this was amazing.

On the way to school he heard students talking about Suzui in hushed voices. He wanted to defend her but that would attract attention he didn’t need.

Unsurprisingly, his phone lit up while he was in class. He’d silenced it during lessons again to not get caught when Ryuji inevitably texted him.

He’d created a group chat for the three of them, and, since that’s where Ryuji texted, Ann’s phone buzzed. Akira felt himself smile. She’d get used to it quickly.

Ryuji: lets meet on the roof after school?

Ann: shouldn’t you be paying attention?!

Ryuji: dont worry about it

Ryuji: are you paying attention either

Ann: in one ear, out the other

Ryuji: thought so

Ryuji: so after school, base?

Ann: where?

Ryuji: the roof, i already said

Ann: can we even go there?

Ryuji: we need it so yea we can

Ryuji: ill be waiting for you guys there

Me: ok

He got chalk to the forehead, the teacher scolding him for texting.

‘’You need more skill to dodge that. Or just not get caught.’’

‘’Did anyone hear a cat?’’

***

On the roof again, Ryuji sat in a chair, tipping it back and forth with his foot on an adjacent desk, Ann sitting on another one swinging her feet. Akira leaned against the wall in the shade near them, his bag on a desk.

‘’Alright, to be real thieves we need supplies!’’ Morgana announced. ‘’Medicine and weapons, first and foremost.’’

‘’Where would we even get those?’’ Ann asked. ‘’Wouldn’t that look suspicious?’’

Akira hummed. ‘’I’ll look for something.’’

‘’Hey, I could help with that,’’ Ryuji said. ‘’The weapons we have there just have to look real, yeah? I know a place that sells model guns and shit.’’

Ann looked at him. ‘’Why.’’

‘’Hey, that could help!’’

Before Akira could butt in, Morgana did. ‘’That’s a great idea, Ryuji!’’

He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘’Well, I can show it to you sometime, it’s kind of out of the way.’’

Ann shot him an even more suspicious look.

‘’We can look at it tomorrow, yeah?’’

‘’I can’t, I have something planned,’’ Ann said.

‘’What?’’

‘’I’m gonna visit Shiho.’’

‘’Oh. That’s okay, man, we’ll go on our own, take your time,’’ Ryuji said.

She smiled at him. ‘’Thanks, Ryuji.’’

‘’Yeah, no problem.’’

When Akira returned to the cafe, he saw an unusually dressed woman with piercing eyes that locked on him as soon as the bell rang.

‘’Welcome home,’’ Sojiro said. He seemed to have warmed up to him already. He wondered if it was because of Wakaba.

‘’So that’s the guy, huh,’’ the woman said in a smooth voice. She had the air of a woman of power, blue hair and spiked cuffs and all.

‘’Kid, this is Takemi Tae, the doctor who owns the clinic just up the road.’’

‘’Kurusu Akira,’’ he said and bowed a little.

Takemi chuckled, ‘’Pleasure.’’

She got up from her seat, her cup empty, and paid for her coffee. With a smile that gave him an eerie feeling, she waved and left.

Sojiro nodded at the door. ‘’Don’t take her lightly, kid. Could be the last thing you do. Oh, and, if you don’t have anything better to do, you could help out down here.’’

Akira nodded and headed up to his room. He had a feeling that wasn’t Sojiro’s idea.

Morgana jumped from his bag when he put it down, tail flicking in excitement. ‘’You hear that? Medicine!’’

‘’Yeah,’’ he agreed. ‘’She won’t give us stuff without something in return, I have a feeling.’’

Morgana hummed. ‘’Well, yeah. I wonder what it will be. Medicine…. I’m scared.’’

Akira felt dread pool in his stomach. He smiled, though; it was for the team.

***

He met up with Ryuji at Shibuya station. He seemed excited to show him this secret.

‘’Come on!’’

They passed a politician speaking to a couple of people standing near him and crossed the huge Shibuya crossing. The streets were crowded, probably the norm for a Sunday. He’d seen this in travel brochures.

Akira followed Ryuji as he went along with the crowd, then split off to go to an unassuming alleyway. Around a corner they saw a couple shops with lit up signs. Ryuji led him inside the one under a glowing green sign.

The shop was cramped and absolutely filled with guns, along with a vending machine of… military rations? An intimidating man sat on a tipped back chair behind the counter, his booted feet on it, a newspaper he lowered to look at them.

‘’Kids? What are you doing here, scram,’’ he said, bored. Akira assumed this place didn’t get much traffic, but they were being shooed anyway.

‘’No no, we’re here to buy! Chill out, old man,’’ Ryuji said back.

‘’What could kids like you be looking for? There’s no way I’d sell you a real gun, as if I had any,’’ he said, but from the looks of it, the ear guards on his head for example, he guessed that was a lie.

‘’We’re here for believable model guns,’’ Akira said.

The man looked at him for a moment, judging. Akira stood straight and unmoving, looking the man in the eye. He had a feeling this man was one who could be won over with confidence.

The man chuckled, took his feet down and got up. ‘’All right, look around.’’

Ryuji grinned at Akira, choosing not to say anything when he can be heard. ‘’Oh, here,’’ he said and dug in his pocket for a few bills.

‘’Money?’’ And enough for a few things, at least.

‘’Yeah, I figured I could help out, get us a good start,’’ he rubbed his neck.

‘’Thanks.’’

Ryuji smiled back. ‘’I’ll leave you to it, I have no idea what specs we need, or even how to find stuff we can use.’’

‘Not like I know either,’ Akira wanted to say but didn’t. He could probably get a recommendation, though the man probably wouldn’t know what to use to plunder cognitive castles.

He walked up to the counter, where the man uncrossed his arms and reached out a hand. ‘’Iwai.’’

‘’Kurusu,’’ he said and shook Iwai’s hand. The grip was firm, just as he expected from a guy like that. Standing closer now, he could see a tattoo of a lizard on the man’s neck. He wondered if it was a gang symbol.

Iwai chuckled, ‘’Smart kid. Help yourself.’’

Wandering around, as little as the room was, Akira found things that resembled weapons his team used so he bought those that he could. Iwai offered to let him sell his old stuff, which gave him a bit more money.

‘’Nice job,’’ Morgana said quietly from his closed bag.

Iwai looked around and, not having found anything, turned back to Akira. ‘’Pleasure to do business with you; just don’t don’t flash those things around, don’t need me trouble.’’

‘’Of course,’’ Akira said and left. Even the shaded alley was brighter than the small shop lit with electric lights. Natural light felt like a relief.

He texted the group to say he’d gotten them gear, then headed back to the station. A few stops later he stepped out into Yongen-Jaya to look for a clinic.

He found a sign set out in front of a white building. He went up the steps and through the door. The place was small but definitely a medical establishment. Anatomical charts interspersed with odd posters were on the walls, magazines and brochures on small tables set between comfortable chairs.

‘’Hello, how can I help you?’’ came a familiar voice from his left. Akira looked and saw a window, where Takemi sat, her style a bit more low key with a white coat on top, but still weird for a doctor.

‘’Hello, Takemi-sensei.’’

She looked up. ‘’Oh, it’s you. What do you want?’’

‘’Some medicine, if you could,’’ Akira said, sure he sounded incredibly suspicious.

‘’You look healthy, what could you need?’’

Akira wracked his brain and came up with nothing good. He realised he had no idea what sort to use in the Metaverse. ‘’Exams are coming and I can’t focus.’’

She looked at him skeptically. He knew she saw right through him. ‘’Sure. Well, I’d say coffee and plenty of sleep is what you need.’’

Feeling at a loss, Akira tried to grab at something to salvage this. But then, a stranger came inside the clinic. ‘’You have some kind of illegal medicine here, yeah?’’

Takemi sighed. ‘’No, you’re mistaken. Please stop spreading those rumours.’’

‘’I know you have something!’’

‘’No, please leave now.’’

After a little more urging, the man left. Takemi looked at Akira and stared at him, likely unhappy Akira had stayed to listen in.

‘’You too, kid.’’

Unwilling to challenge her, he left.

The bell announced his arrival at the cafe. Sojiro greeted him as he sat at the counter. He pulled out his phone and texted Ann.

Me: how was seeing Shiho?

Ann: hey thanks for asking

Ann: she’s stable

Ann: but they don’t know when she’ll regain consciousness

So Kamoshida had lied about her having no hope. Unsurprising that he’d lie, but still a relief.

Me: she’ll be okay

Me: we’ll make sure of it

Ann: we can’t do much about her state

Ann: but thanks

Ann: let’s do this!

A clink got his attention. When he looked up, he saw a cup of coffee. Sojiro was looking off to the TV, not really seeing it.

‘’Thank you,’’ Akira said.

Sojiro just grumbled.

He smiled. Definitely warming up to him.

After his amazing drink he went up to his room, and Morgana went to the worktable.

‘’Come on, let’s be productive! With practice you’ll get faster!’’

With a smile, Akira agreed and made a few items according to Morgana’s instructions, more than he expected considering he’d only managed one lockpick last time. Like before, Morgana ushered him to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally something new? For anyone reading, I haven't forgotten about this, just spent months anxiously figuring out the plot.


	6. Mission Start

When Akira got to the school gates, he saw none other than their target. Kamoshida smirked down at him.

‘’Good morning,’’ he said. When Akira didn’t respond, he smiled wider. ‘’Don’t think I forgot; you will be expelled at the next board meeting.’’ He flickered to the image of an almost nude man in a crown, back to a teacher, and left.

It would seem Ann had learned as, when Ryuji texted them, her phone just lit up.

Ryuji: he was at the gate this morning  
Ryuji: the son of a bitch smiled at me

Ann: that pisses me off, is he trying to look like he doesn’t care or something? as if

Ryuji: yeah  
Ryuji: that just makes me more excited for our plan

Ann: I’m worried about Shiho but I want to focus on the operation. this will help her feel safe when she wakes up!

Me: definitely. thank you for helping us!

Ann: there’s no need for thanks, I wanna make him eat concrete more than anyone

Ryuji: jesus  
Ryuji: he said the next board meeting right  
Ryuji: thats may 2

Me: we have to finish the palace by then  
Me: prepare yourselves

Ann: ready! I can’t wait!!

Ryuji: calm down woman  
Ryuji: lets do this!!

They met up on the roof, their new base of operations. Morgana stood to address them.

‘’Alright, let’s start the mission! Steal Kamoshida’s heart by the next board meeting! Game over if you don’t, so I’m counting on you!’’

Shouted agreement from Ann and Ryuji, and a nod from Akira solidified the deal. ‘’Let’s go.’’

They showed Ann the app on her phone - ‘’How did it get there?!’’ - and how to use it. Soon they were at the castle gate.

‘’Ugh, why?!’’

They looked over to Ann, who was trying to cover her chest with her pink gloves. ‘’This is gross!’’

‘’Ann-dono, that’s what your rebellion looks like.’’

‘’It… oh.’’ She lowered her hands and looked herself over again. ‘’But why this in particular?’’

Joker, back in his gentleman thief outfit, put his hands in his pockets and looked at her. ‘’It could be symbolising you taking control of your appeal.’’

Ann blushed but nodded after a moment.

‘’Joker is right, that’s one way to look at it!’’ Mona nodded.

‘’Joker?’’

Skull took his new weapon and grinned. ‘’Yeah, codenames! We should give you one. That’s a tail, right?’’ He pointed behind her, where there was, indeed, a tail. ‘’Something with cats?’’

‘’Cougar,’’ Morgana sighed.

‘‘Absolutely not,’’ she protested. ‘’What do you think, Joker?’’

He hummed. ‘’Panther?’’

She grinned, ‘’Hey, they hunt stuff, right? I’ll take it.’’

They went over their plan: go in, train and explore. When they started heading in, Joker noticed a flicker of light. He turned to see a familiar barred door leading to a fog of blue. One of the twins in blue stood beside it, the rude one.

He glanced at the others, ‘’Hold on for a minute, okay?’’

‘’Our master wants to talk to you,’’ Caroline said, then entered the door. Joker followed.

He didn’t wake up on the cot this time, which made sense. He stood in his usual spot, grabbing the bars.

‘’I see you have discovered you have the ability to hold multiple Personas,’’ Igor said.

‘’Why can I do that?’’ Akira asked.

‘’As such, deepening your bond with me will increase the number of Personas you can hold, as well as other abilities. The third eye, for example, as well as fusing new Personas,’’ he said, as if Akira hadn’t asked anything.

‘’Fusing?’’

‘’You can combine the ones you have to make new kinds.’’

Akira could only look with his mouth agape.

It seems he was tossed from the room as he found himself back in his coat, facing the barred door under the overcast sky of the castle.

‘’What’s wrong with you?’’ Mona asked. Joker wondered if they’d seen him leave.

‘’You looked like you were spacing out or something,’’ Skull said.

‘’Well, if you’re okay, let’s go. Lead the way, Joker,’’ Mona said.

On the way through familiar ground, Mona showed him items he could shatter to find treasures. He could use the third eye Igor had given him to see them easier. This was a less risky way of getting loot than combat so he counted it as a win.

They found the safe room they used before and, while taking a short rest, explained to Panther what it was. The excitement of their new mission in their mundane lives was buzzing in the air.

Later on, Mona taught him about sneaking like a proper thief and they fought shadows until they found another safe room inside what looked like an older part of the castle. They hadn’t been surrounded as badly as the last time so he stuck to Arsene.

When Mona taught him about holding up shadows and negotiating, he must have said something right as the downed shadow dissolved into light that melded into his mask. He felt the new Persona in his heart.

Mona kept looking at him in worry. The others gasped and cheered.

When they were properly out of that strange energy and a little richer, they left the castle for the real world. Once there, they found that they were tired, though not as badly as the first time. Morgana seemed immensely proud of the team he’d assembled. When Akira got home, he went upstairs right away; Morgana had the same idea and told him that ‘’you must be tired, you should go to bed early’’ and Akira couldn’t agree more. Nobody texted him, which was a godsend.

It was jarring, how normal going to school was when he knew about the Metaverse and was promised to be expelled. They texted in class like usual, teachers didn’t like it. Ryuji suggested they train together.

They met in the school courtyard dressed in their gym uniforms, Akira with his jacket on as opposed to Ryuji rolling his short sleeves up.

‘’It’s been ages,’’ he said, looking around. ‘’This is my secret spot I used to train in, when I was on the track team. I was thinking of running a bit. I felt way too weak in the Metaverse, I should train my legs back up to shape. I’m thinking you could definitely use the muscle too!’’

‘’What?’’ Akira was startled. It had been quite a while since he’d run just for the hell of it.

‘’Come on, you’re so skinny! Let’s go!’’

Despite saying he was out of shape, Ryuji looked much better than Akira, who was panting and bent over gasping for breath by the time Ryuji called for a break. Akira could feel his body singing with dopamine and soreness. He hadn’t worked out in quite a while and felt out of practice. He could admit he’d like to be more agile in the Metaverse.

After they had caught their breath, they went to the beef bowl shop upon Ryuji’s suggestion.

‘’Man, I can’t believe we’re doing this!’’ Ryuji said, giddy. His bowl was half empty already, both of them famished.

‘’We’re infiltrating a cognitive palace to steal a heart,’’ Akira said. He’d eaten a bit slower but still faster than his usual. ‘’It’s insane.’’

‘’That’s putting it lightly! There’s Morgana too, a talking cat, sheesh.’’

‘’Not a cat!’’ came from his bag.

‘’That was harder than I thought but I’m glad I can still run, after what Kamoshida did.’’

‘’He broke your leg, right?’’

‘’Yeah. Insulted my mom, said I was quick to anger just like my old man. He drank and beat my mom and I until he finally left. She’s all I have now,’’ he trailed off. Then he smiled softly. ‘’But I have you guys now, right?’’

Akira felt his heart warm. ‘’Yeah, you do.’’ There was no way he would let this one go.

On the way to school, in the station Akira heard some students talk about part time job catalogues. He saw the stand they were set up in. ‘’Those could come in handy,’’ Morgana had said.

Once again Ryuji wasn’t focusing on class.

Skull: hey i thought of smth

Panther: what’s this all of a sudden

Skull: even if we have places to get meds n gear we dont have the money for them

Joker: how’s your savings?

Skull: lol none

Panther: part time job?

Skull: dont want one

Panther: ugh

Akira heard a throat clear and put his phone away to look up guiltily at Ushimaru. After he turned back to the board, Akira pulled his phone out again.

Joker: I’ll look into that today so Palace after that

Skull: thanks man youre the best

Afterwards Akira went to the stand he saw that morning and looked at what was available. Convenience store, flower shop and beef bowl shop. They didn’t sound particularly fun but he supposed jobs aren’t meant to be fun. The flower shop seemed to be out of his reach at that moment so he applied for the other two.

‘’Good job!’’ Morgana said from his bag. His heart felt warmer.

He returned to the school roof to meet up and head inside. Their costumes and gear made them perk up, excited to dig in again. With grins on their faces, they went in.

They made great progress, covering territory and learning, having found another safe room amid finding maps for the winding castle. Joker couldn’t guess why there would be maps if Kamoshida already knew the castle and didn’t want intruders but he would be thankful nonetheless. The man didn’t seem particularly bright.

Mona taught him how to judge enemies’ strength before deciding to take them on. Some books led them on a puzzle that gave them a shortcut, solved by Joker, to the cheers of his team. He preened in the praise. They found a chest where Mona taught him to pick locks. After a long and tedious process of trial and error, Joker found it had a hunk of fabric caked in dirt. He wasn’t too happy, but according to Mona, if he washed it, they would get good gear, no matter how bad it looked. Joker was skeptical, but Mona had been right about a lot of things and this couldn’t hurt. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing to have happened anyway.

They stumbled upon a room covered in pictures of Shiho, a shrine in the middle. Panther scanned it, fire in her eyes, and stormed out. The guys cast a quick glance around for loot, trying not to look at the perverse pictures, grabbing another map on the way out.

What a disturbed man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how to do this yet, hoping for the best.


	7. New Bonds

This time it was Ann who texted him, asking to go to the Palace. He denied it, planning on getting medicine. After school, he did just that.

As soon as Takemi saw who came inside, she looked wary.  ‘’What do you want?’’

‘’The medicine you have.’’

‘’I’m guessing it’s not the legal stuff.’’ He nodded, and she sighed. ‘’It’s a little dangerous so I was planning on getting rid of it. What would a high schooler like you want with something like that?’’

Akira stuck to his story. ‘’Exams.’’

‘’Sure, sure. Come on then,’’ she said and left through a door on her side of the window. He assumed the door that led in the same direction was the right one and, hearing a ‘good luck’ from Morgana, entered.

He found an examination room. More detailed charts that looked like they would be more helpful to a doctor, a clinical bed and a desk stacked high with folders, a computer barely having room.

Takemi came in from a separate door and gestured to the bed. ‘’Sit down.’’

Incredibly nervous, he did, placing his bag beside him.

She sat in her office chair and turned it toward him. ‘’Okay, what kind?’’

When no answer was forthcoming - how should he know? - she hummed. ‘’So not the classics.’’ He nodded. ‘’Well, as long as you don’t blab and you help me out…’’

That sounded foreboding. ‘’I promise,’’ he said, and immediately regretted it. The glint in her eye was wicked.

‘’I have some medicines that need some trials and I can’t take these to the higher ups. Would you still do it?’’ There was a sick glee in her voice, watching him squirm.

‘’Yes.’’

She chuckled. ‘’Good boy. Now, this one first,’’ she said, opening one drawer of numerous and pulling out an unlabeled bottle.

First?!

She passed it over to him. ‘’In one go, okay?’’

He nodded and opened it. It smelled awful but, he reasoned, don’t most medicines. This was for the team, right? He tipped his head back and swallowed the thick liquid.

‘’Are you out of your mind? Only an idiot would drink stuff like that!’’

The doctor being worried alarmed him even more, but before he could respond, he was overcome with coughing. It bit into his throat. He felt his eyes watering and unfocusing.

Well, at least he had a doctor on standby, he thought before his eyes closed.

When they opened again, he saw a white ceiling, a curtain rod with plastic curtains on the side.

‘’Oh, there you are.’’

He looked around and remembered where he was. He sat up and shook his head. ‘’What the hell,’’ he muttered.

‘’Thank you, guinea pig,’’ Takemi said and wrote something down. Once she had set the pen down and filed away her notes, she turned to him and opened another drawer, letting him browse while she found a water bottle and gave it to him.

‘’Happy shopping.’’

Taking a lot of her advice, Akira bought a few things he could afford with the last of his money. When his bag had been truly stuffed and Morgana was grumbling, he turned to her and bowed.

‘’Thank you, Takemi-sensei.’’

She chuckled at him, ‘’I should be the one thanking you. Now shoo.’’

He felt a bond form.  _ The Death. _ Not ominous at all.

He left the building to see it had darkened to dusk. He must have been out for a while.

The cafe was calm in the evening, Sojiro smoking a cigarette and idly watching the tv. He turned to greet him. ‘’Oh, hey. You look beat.’’ Akira nodded. ‘’Well, you’d best head up to rest after having some food.’’ He agreed, got a plate and ate, his mind foggy.

When he got upstairs, Morgana jumped from his bag.

‘’It would have been nice to make some more tools but you look like you wouldn’t be able to focus,’’ he said. It seemed he was trying to play off his concern but there was a softness to his voice.

Akira agreed, changed and went to bed, no urging needed. Tokyo is wild.

***

The next day they went through school excited, having agreed to go to the Palace. Their teamwork was improving greatly. They were having fun and Ann was getting more comfortable in her outfit. It always left them pleasantly tired, adrenaline rushing through them.

When Akira entered the cafe and the bell announced his arrival, Sojiro looked up to greet him. ‘’Hey, you’re not causing trouble, right? School’s going well?’’

Akira shook his head. ‘’No, I’m fine.’’

‘’Us parole officers have to report twice a month and it’s a pain in the ass, I’d hate to tell them bad stuff. There’s certain rules in our society that we can’t disobey so you be careful.’’

‘’I will,’’ he said, uncomfortable. It was a bit late for that. He was set to be expelled, but he was fixing it. Sojiro probably wouldn’t approve of his methods though.

Sojiro’s phone rang then. He checked it and frowned. ‘’Ugh, fine. You’re doing good so far.’’

‘’Uh. Thanks.’’

He sighed, long and tired. ‘’Wanna help out? I can show you how to make a proper cup of coffee. There’s a spare apron in the closet.’’

Surprised, Akira put his bag down on the last chair in the row by the counter, opening the zipper to let Morgana peek. He found the closet Sojiro pointed at and put on a green apron.

Sojiro talked him through making a cup, from picking the beans and grinding them to pouring the water. It was unsurprisingly more complicated than he thought.

When he was done, Sojiro set a cup down on the counter and gestured for Akira to sit. He did, then picked up the cup.

‘’Smell it,’’ Sojiro said. There was a warm smile on his face. He was obviously confident in his skill.

The fragrance was amazing, a little burnt, rich and pleasant. He took a sip and hummed.

‘’Nice, huh?’’

Like he had to ask. ‘’Great.’’

He chuckled. ‘’With some practice you might approach this level.’’

Akira risked a little snark. ‘’Don’t flatter yourself.’’

The laugh he got was sudden and rich, as nice as the coffee. ‘’Watch it, you,’’ Sojiro said with no real venom. Then his phone chimed. He checked it and chuckled again.

‘’It would seem I’m keeping you.’’

Confused, Akira smiled. What could that mean?

He nodded, finished his cup and washed it, making sure to wash the other dishes in the sink too.

He felt a bond form.  _ The Hierophant _ . He smiled.

‘’Oh yeah, you seem to be keeping yourself out of trouble so you can go out at night, if you want.’’

When he waved him off, Akira grabbed his bag and climbed upstairs.

‘’Guess he’s warming up to you, huh?’’ Morgana said and jumped out of the bag. He leapt onto the bed and Akira briefly wondered if cats could get out of shape. 

Although, with how house cats lazed about and were still sleek, he was sure Morgana was in no danger. Not to mention the Metaverse.

He sat on the bed as well and turned to pet Morgana out of instinct. It surprised him but it felt right, somehow. ‘’Yeah,’’ he said.

Morgana also looked a bit startled, but he leaned into his touch. ‘’I wonder who was texting him, though.’’

He hummed. It was weird but it seemed to be in his favour so he would best leave it be, for now at least. A yawn broke out and he covered his mouth.

‘’We did a lot today, you should rest!’’ predictably, Morgana chirped.  There was no arguing that. He changed into his pajamas and went to bed.

* * *

School was the same as before, rumours permeating the air. Akira felt powerful, having an impact on them.

His friends weren’t itching to go, having gotten their fun yesterday. When he said they’d rest today, they agreed readily.

When he got to the cafe, he saw Sojiro behind the counter, as usual, with Wakaba enjoying a cup as well. She turned to smile at him. ‘’Welcome back.’’

He smiled back. The warmth in her voice was genuine.

‘’Futaba, you wanted to ask him something?’’

He hadn’t noticed before, but the girl was hiding behind Wakaba. She seemed disgruntled that her mother had pointed her out, but then determination set in her eyes.

‘’You have a cat?’’ Her voice was wavering but strong.

Akira managed a nod.

‘’Can I pet him?’’

Morgana yelped from his bag. He saw no harm in it though and set the bag down on the seat on the other side of Futaba.

‘’No, what are you doing?!’’ Morgana exclaimed. Futaba turned to him and stared.

After a moment, she said, deadpan, ‘’cute,’’ and rubbed his head. He protested a bit more but as she learned to handle him gently, he settled down.

‘’Now be careful, Futaba, don’t hurt him,’’ Wakaba said with a smile. ‘’See, now he likes it, that’s it.’’

Morgana muttered that he did not, in fact, like it but he didn’t leave, so that said something. He even let her hold him on her lap.

‘’Sit down and join us, Akira, don’t be a stranger,’’ Wakaba told him. Lost to what else he could do, he moved his empty-of-Morgana bag to the next seat and took the one beside Futaba. She seemed immensely focused, as if she hadn’t held a cat before.

A clink of porcelain came from in front of him and he found a cup of coffee set for him. When he thanked him, Sojiro grumbled something.

As he drank the delightful coffee, he watched Futaba petting Morgana and wondering about him. He was surprised by how soft his fur was too.

Out of nowhere, she spoke. ‘’What’s his name?’’

‘’He’s Morgana.’’

She looked hard into Morgana’s blue eyes and hummed. ‘’Cool.’’

Cool? What did that even mean?

When he finished his cup, he hesitated. Wakaba looked at Futaba and smiled wider. ‘’You can visit him again, if you want. Right?’’

Akira nodded. He expected Morgana to protest but he didn’t. Looks like someone else was warming up. Futaba reluctantly released her arms from their vice grip and Morgana jumped up to the counter.

‘’Oi,’’ Sojiro shooed. ‘’No cats on the counter, this is an establishment!’’

Morgana yelped and jumped to the ground. At Akira’s nod, he went upstairs, grumbling.

‘’What do we say, Futaba?’’ Wakaba said.

‘’I’m not a kid, sheesh,’’ she muttered. Turning to Akira and standing, she seemed to be filled with wariness. ‘’Thank you, uh…’’

‘’Kurusu Akira.’’

‘’I knew that,’’ she said, and wasn’t that confusing. ‘’Can I pet him again later?’’

‘’Yeah.’’

‘’Thanks.’’ And she sat back by her mother, having had her fill of social interaction for the day, it would seem. Surprisingly, his heart surged with affection.  _ The Hermit.  _ Who was she?

He went up and found Morgana sitting on the work desk, unhappy. Akira joined him.

‘’Ugh, that was horrible.’’ He shook and rubbed a paw over his face. ‘’Anyway! You don’t seem tired so how about we craft?’’

Thieves business always seemed to brighten him up. He nodded and chose the things he wanted to make. He was getting more proficient with every tool he made, and Morgana praised him on it.

Before he knew it, the sky had darkened and he was being ushered to bed.

***

He would have loved to sleep in on a Sunday but a cat nagging about his sleep prevented that. He got dressed and went down to the cafe, prepared to go out to find something to eat. To his surprise, however, when Sojiro noticed him coming down, he prepared him a plate and cup of coffee.

‘’This is cheaper than going out but don’t let the customers see you freeloading.’’

Akira smiled. ‘’You’re the one giving food for free.’’

‘’So you don’t want it?’’ He said, not reaching to take back the plate.

Akira shook his head and chuckled, joined by Sojiro.

He left the cafe in a good mood, headed for the trains. Once he got to Shibuya, he started looking around for the job catalogue stand. It was the same as before and he sighed. He couldn’t expect a high paying job as a student working part time, though, could he?

Not wanting to waste his trip, he went above ground to look around. He hadn’t been to the big city before, he wouldn’t be out of place looking like a tourist.

He saw the man in the suit doing his speech, like last time, and he decided to go listen, he had the time.

The man’s message was one he found he agreed with. The man seemed to notice him paying attention, unlike people walking by or stopping for a few moments and moving on. After he finished his speech, he walked up to Akira.

‘’Is a young man like you interested in politics?’’ He said, his voice warm and personable when talking one on one.

‘’A bit,’’ he said, honest. He didn’t know the man yet but he seemed to be the kind preferring truth, despite his politician’s background.

‘’Ah, but that’s more than most! What are your thoughts?’’

‘’I think I agree with you, from what I’ve heard.’’

‘’Ah, splendid! Say, I have a sign that I can’t hold as I speak, would you help, if you have any spare time?’’

Akira nodded, not sure about how worthwhile it would be but still curious. The man picked up a sign leaning on the parked van behind him and gave it to him. It had a typical politician’s slogan printed on it.

His message was interesting, though, and before he knew it, the man turned to address him again, speech apparently done.

‘’Thank you, my boy,’’ he said, then his eyes widened. ‘’How rude of me! I forgot to ask your name, or even introduce myself! I am Yoshida Toranosuke.’’ He held out his hand.

‘’Kurusu Akira,’’ he said and shook Yoshida’s hand, His grip was firm, but not overwhelming, self assured.  He felt his heart grow warm.  _ The Sun. _

When he was let go, he went out to walk around the underground mall. Nothing caught his eye, so he went to the trains. The flower shop looked inviting, though.  The grocery store in Yongen-Jaya accepted him, he remembered, and he went there to work the evening. It was tiring - customer service was exactly as he’d heard - but he got money, so he thanked his new coworker and went home. He was told to study, then sleep and he agreed. Morgana’s babysitting of him was charming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to my son who is alive and well thank you. Anyhow, not sure these fragments help much but they're developments? Not sure I'll use Yoshida yet though but he's here.


	8. Anticipation

Akira noticed that Ryuji usually got bored around the same time. He could focus for a couple of periods, until inevitably Akira’s phone lit up. Ann hid hers behind her pencil case and checked it.

Skull: palace today yea or nah

Joker: yea

Skull: sweet

Panther: can’t wait

The day seemed to pass both faster and slower, with something to look forward to but unable to wait for it. He saw their target stalk around the school, probably trying to keep the student body intimidated and under his control. Eventually they met up in the alley outside the school.

The shift from one world to the other was a familiar feeling by now. The coat on his back was comfortable, Skull shifted on his feet and rolled his shoulders, Panther stretched and checked her weapons.

They went through to their most recent safe room and kept exploring, feeling as if they’d never left. They encountered new shadows and, when they were strong to one of their elements, they were usually weak to another they had. They learned to pass each other their turns, and they did so with adrenaline filled smiles. The new territory and enemies helped burn off built up energy from the past days.

Then they came across an Incubus. They could easily handle it, he knew, but Mona suggested he use bless.

‘’Bless?’’ Panther asked.

‘’He has another Persona,’’ Mona said.

‘’You what?’’

‘’Okay,’’ Joker agreed and reached for his mask with intent. It reacted and his black outfit burned away to reveal the princely clothes. They were comfortable, like last time.

‘’Oh, this one! You had this when I awakened, right?’’

‘’Yeah. Come, Iravan!’’

He saw the light of his Persona appearing behind him, and a long bronze snake’s tail curled on the ground around him. The scales shone gold and crimson in the torchlight of the caste.

‘’Wow, that’s pretty,’’ Panther murmured.

Pride surged through him, some his and some not. When he used Kouha on the Shadow, it went down and started begging.

‘’We can use this!’’ Mona said.

Joker heard the Incubus out, and when he offered to join him, he agreed. The Shadow dissolved into light that concentrated into a mask that joined the one on his face.

‘’Oh wow,’’ Panther marveled.

‘’It never gets old,’’ Mona said. Joker smiled at that.

They kept exploring and found another safe room. When asked if they wanted to rest and the group agreed, satisfied, they headed back to the entrance and left.

Tired as usual, Akira rode the train back to the cafe. As soon as he came in, there was a cup set on the counter, obviously for him. He sat with a happy sigh and sipped it.

‘’Thanks.’’

‘’No problem, kid,’’ Sojiro said while ladling out curry in a dish, already filled with a generous portion of rice. While he ate, Sojiro got some fish, cut it into small pieces and set them in a bowl that he put next to Akira.

After he was full and sated, he took the bowl up to his room and sat on his bed, setting the bowl down next to him. Morgana was careful not to tip it over as he ate ravenously.

Akira changed while he ate and, when Morgana was done, carried the bowl down and washed it. When he was done, he laid down in his bed and yawned.

‘’It’s not very late but you could use the rest,’’ Morgana said and curled up next to him.

Akira nodded and, with a languid smile, pet Morgana until they fell asleep.

***

Ten minutes after the start of the third period, his phone lit up.

Skull: we cant keep restin after every go

Skull: thats not how u build endurance

Skull: the board meeting is next mon

Panther: what would you know about

Panther: ooh nvm

Skull: ha

Joker: good idea. after school today?

Skull: hell yea

Panther: roger

While going down the stairs to leave the school, Akira realised he was grateful for what he had. He was about to be expelled but he had friends, a team who were in it with him.

He met his friends with a smile that stayed strong as they went in. They made their way through enemies, through the castle until they found something that resembled a cathedral that flickered to the gymnasium. A large foe loomed over them. Archangel. It looked like a cross between a knight and an angel, it didn’t seem fitting in a Palace of lust, but it might be Kamoshida thinking himself just.

‘’Be careful, guys!’’ Mona said.

This one was strong, probably stronger than any of them alone, but they could beat it together. Probably.

Mona told them about guarding, taking less damage the next time they’re attacked. They tried it and were glad it worked. This one hit hard. It was weak to curse and electric so Joker and Skull focused on offense while Mona and Panther focused on keeping them alive. The repeated hits hurt but the cool shower of green sparks was pleasant, at least.

When the Shadow finally fell, they sighed in relief while Mona picked up the money the enemy dropped.

‘’God, that wasn’t good,’’ Skull said.

‘’Want to fall back?’’ Joker asked.

‘’Hell no! I’m good to go.’’

They continued until they found stairs up to the roof, the dark sky a familiar sight. It was positively crawling with enemies. They took on a couple of Shadows, avoiding most, wary of wasting their energy on fights that would make their infiltration take longer. They found a tower that looked quite important. They deduced it probably held the king. They went inside and found an elevator.

When they called it and the doors opened, it had a Shadow that caught them off guard. They managed to ambush it, Joker had no idea how, and it turned into a pair of Succubus.

‘’It’s strong to fire!’’ Mona told them. ‘’Nulls curse, but weak to gun and bless. Joker?’’

They could always use bullets so he decided to save them. He reached for his mask and summoned Iravan. The serpentine tail circled him, the chain whipping around in front of him.

He cast bless while the others healed or defended him. It was painful so he was glad the injuries were easy to reverse.

After the battle they descended, opening a chest in the elevator in the meantime. Who knows why it was there, but the whole castle was already weird enough to not surprise him. Down a long hallway that left the team winded, they found a wall with a set of levers. A puzzle, Joker guessed. A look at the others standing off to the sides showed no intent to try to solve it so he stepped up.

Pulling different levers made different noises, clanging and chains, until he thought it sounded like something unlocked. They moved on and found a painting twice as tall as them, depicting Kamoshida as a king, glorifying him. It was unpleasant to say the least. Pushing at it, though, revealed a hidden doorway to the entrance hall. A useful shortcut.

Another hallway that was previously blocked off by iron bars had opened to reveal a path to a previous safe room. Mona noted this as handy. They came upon another lever that unlocked a new hallway, revealing a new safe room. By then they were tired enough to call it a day.

As usual, they left the Metaverse and leaned against the wall of the alley to get their bearings. Ann groaned and twirled some hair around her hand while Ryuji slumped and sighed.

‘’Woof, what a workout! Good job, guys,’’ he said.

‘’Agreed!’’ Morgana said, popping his head out of Akira’s bag. ‘’You’re tired so go home and rest up, okay?’’

‘’I hear ya,’’ Ryuji said. ‘’See ya tomorrow, guys.’’ He waved and walked away, slouching heavily.

‘’See you, Akira!’’ Ann said, cheerful as always, and left.

Akira went straight to the cafe and, as was becoming the norm, Sojiro greeted him and set out a cup of coffee for him to drink while he prepared a plate of curry. Akira smiled his gratitude and sat.

After he finished eating and Sojiro took his plate to wash for him - ‘’you look dead on your feet, go rest’’ - and gave him a bowl with bites of fish, he went up and changed into his bed clothes, knowing he’d hate sleeping in his uniform, then having to iron it.

It wasn’t very late and he wasn’t drowsy but his body could use laying down. Morgana joined him on the bed after he finished eating, curled up against his side. ‘’Oh man, that was good. I see why Ryuji likes training, I can feel the dopamine,’’ he said.

‘’You know what dopamine is?’’ Akira said.

‘’Of course! I know stuff!’’

‘’Like what?’’ he humoured him.

‘’What the best sushi is! When are you planning on getting me some?’’

‘’Not in our finances at the moment.’’

‘’W-well… work on it then!’’

‘’Aren’t I letting you stay here?’’ Morgana faltered. Akira chuckled. ‘’Don’t worry, I’ll get you some soon, when we’re less busy. That okay?’’

‘’...yeah,’’ he finally agreed.

‘’Shouldn’t we sleep?’’

Morgana hummed and tucked himself closer to Akira’s side, warm through his shirt. ‘’We’re tired, come on.’’

Poor guy was melancholy again, so Akira pet his head gently, hoping the rhythm would be reassuring. It worked for them both as he fell asleep.

  
  
  


_ ‘’So what would you like? Remember I don’t have much at the moment.’’ _

_ ‘’Salmon! Fatty tuna!’’ _

_ ‘’Okay, hold on, you’ll have to choose. I’m afraid we can’t get both.’’ _

_ ‘’Oh come on, -’’ _

***

Akira opened his eyes to the exposed support beams of his attic room. That was strange. That wasn’t his voice, but the other was familiar. It was all familiar, somehow. He didn’t have much time to ponder it though because Morgana urged him to get up and get dressed.

As usual, when he got down, he received a plate of great food and a cup of great coffee. By now he knew that thanking Sojiro would bruise his pride so he just smiled his thanks.

Almost like clockwork, his phone lit up a short while into the third period.

‘’Again?’’ Morgana murmured.

Skull: yooo u wanna go in

Panther: damnit Ryuji

Joker: I’m game. the deadline is approaching

Panther: oh tru

Skull: see   
Skull: meet u in the usual spot after school

Panther: roger

Having plans always seemed to put Ryuji at ease for the day, he noticed.

Avoiding Kamoshida patrolling the school, they met up and entered. They indulged their ticks: Panther twirled some hair around her fingers, Skull spun his bat, Joker adjusted his gloves, Mona checked his scimitar. At a nod, they headed inside.

They had gotten into the swing of things, Joker leading, the others to his sides, sticking close together, moving in sync.

When they found the place they had gotten to last time, they assumed a more guarded position to prepare for anything new. What they found was dangerous, though not in the form of enemies.

There was a bust of king Kamoshida, golden and grinning, but at least his eyes were gone. That gave Joker a flicker of sick satisfaction. Behind the statue, though, was a hallway lined with huge blades swinging in arcs, glimmering in the torchlight. There was no way he was risking his team through that.

‘’The eyes are missing,’’ Mona noted and walked up to the statue. He peered at it and perked up. ‘’Wait, there’s switches in the sockets! Maybe there’s the eyes somewhere nearby that might let us pass this? We’re close, I can feel it!’’

His skin crawled at the thought of touching eyes, even more so Kamoshida’s, but at least they would be inanimate.

When they backtracked, they found a sizable number of gold armoured guards patrolling. He had a feeling they were all strong. ‘’We shouldn’t waste energy on them if we can avoid it,’’ Mona said. Joker nodded to him. Focusing harder to see more details though revealed that they would have to engage. Two guards on opposite sides of the room had a different air about them.

‘’Two of them have an eye each.’’

Mona hummed. ‘’Oh, you’re right! Well then, prepare yourselves.’’

They found grated walkways around the perimeter of the space and used those to traverse it without much incident. Some were unavoidable so they fought and defeated them, taking care to do it quietly and not alert the rest, however strange it was that guards could be that inattentive. Luckily they found Shadows that were always weak to at least one of their elements.

The glowing gold enemy took a little longer, more energy and a few healing items, but they left the fight victorious and with a golden eye. The path to the other glowing guard was similar, the other foe just as tiring, and they found themselves back at the statue, inserting the eyes into the sockets, taking care to not damage the mechanism. A few clicks and clunks echoed around them until finally the blades stopped moving. Watching them for a bit proved they wouldn’t start moving again.

The next room revealed a single but powerful enemy. They knew better than to underestimate it. With a steadying breath Joker set off, the team following.

The guard said the usual, that they shouldn’t challenge the king, that they’re no match for him and so on. They waited for it to turn into a Shadow, helped along by Skull yelling at it. It turned into…

‘’What the fuck,’’ he said. They were stunned. ‘’Is that a dick chariot?’’

Joker expected Mona to ask how Skull knew the word chariot but they were all speechless. Seems it was.

The Shadow, Mara took its advantage over them to attack. They dodged at the last moment, spurred on by not wanting any contact with the creature. Joker regained his footing quickly. ‘’Whatever it is, we have to focus! Mona, weaknesses?’’

‘’Uh,’’ he hesitated. ‘’N-none?’’

‘’What do you mean, none?!’’ Skull shouted.

‘’And it’s strong to everything but physical and gun.’’

‘’What the fuck!’’

‘’Nothing to be done but fight,’’ Joker said, tone level-headed. ‘’Use your turns to beat and shoot it, Panther and Mona, heal!’’

‘’Roger!’’

The fight was long and arduous, the thing could heal itself for god’s sake, but eventually the Shadow dissolved into black specks, carried away by some draft. They groaned in relief.

‘’Oh my god, I want a bath.’’ Panther shuddered.

‘’You can say that again,’’ Skull piped in.

‘’Let’s just be glad it’s over with. I can sense it, let’s go!’’ Mona scampered off. Unwilling to let a teammate run off without backup, Joker followed, leaving Panther and Skull to catch up.

Over a bridge, through hallways and up another statue that Joker was glad to stomp his boots on they went. They came upon a room piled high with coins and gems, comical like a level out of a video game. There was a floating mist of light that hurt to look at, almost. His eyes wouldn’t focus on it.

‘’Woah, the hell is this?’’ Skull awed. ‘’How much could we get from this?’’

‘’Don’t get carried away, this is all cognitive,’’ Mona warned. ‘’This here is the Treasure room.’’

Panther gestured to the cloud of sparkles. ‘’So this is the Treasure? Can we take it?’’

‘’It’s going to become the Treasure.’’

‘’How?’’ Skull asked.

‘’Desires don’t have form normally. We have to make the owner aware that their desires are the target, make them scared they will be taken.’’

‘’How do we do that?’’ Panther asked, one hand on her hip.

‘’We have to send them a calling card, tell them we’re coming to steal their heart,’’ Mona said, getting excited. Joker had to say, this was getting more interesting.

‘’Oh man, we’re real thieves!’’ Skull whooped.

‘’So when we do that, the Treasure will appear,’’ Mona said.

‘’Oh, so that’s it,’’ Skull said. ‘’Well, we don’t have much choice and this sounds like a good option.’’

‘’So we have secured the infiltration route,’’ Mona declared with pride. ‘’Now we send the card and steal the Treasure!’’

‘’God, finally,’’ Panther sighed. With her friend in the hospital, Joker found the lack of patience justified. ‘’He’s going down!’’

‘’Let’s get this done,’’ he said.

‘’Yeah, that’s it!’’ Mona cheered. ‘’When you send it, there’s no going back, though. You can only send it once and the Treasure will be here for one day so we have to strike fast.’’ Nods all around. There wasn’t much time left. ‘’Time for us to leave for the day.’’

Akira made his way home with a single minded focus, they had to rest and prepare. He was anxious about their upcoming heist and it seemed he wasn’t alone.

Panther: so how do we do this?

Skull: leave it to me

Panther: what do you have in mind?

Skull: hehe youll see

Panther: oh i’m gonna regret this

Skull: now why do u say that

Panther: ugh

Joker: Mona agrees. you can handle it, Skull

Skull: hell yeah   
Skull: you wnat it for tmrw

Panther: god please check your texts

Joker: yeah, that’d be good. not much time left now

Panther: yea, today’s wednesday, so thursday for him to react and uh   
Panther: we strike tomorrow?

Joker: don’t we need rest?

Skull: did mona tell you to say that

Joker: no actually but he agrees

Panther: you’ve got a good point   
Panther: how about we rest and gather supplies tomorrow and Ryuji prepares the card?

Skull: sounds good   
Skull: im antsy but we gotta prepare

Joker: agreed. rest up

Skull: roger

Panther: ok

‘’It really would be best not to rush in unprepared, nice thinking, Joker!’’ Morgana praised. He felt his heart grow warm. He smiled his thanks.  They wound down for the night, jittery with excitement. Sleep inevitably overtook them, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, the dick chariot.


	9. Confrontation

The day was spent in anticipation, all of them unable to focus on classes. The teachers, those who noticed, weren’t happy, but their minds were on a more important subject.

They were going to make him pay.

After school, Akira went to Untouchables to sell any stuff he had and check for upgrades he could take. Iwai looked at him suspiciously for the frankly weird loot but that couldn’t be helped.

Another stop at Takemi’s with the money he got from selling loot got him plenty of medicine for the next day. There was no way there were others buying so much illegitimate medicine from her, but then again how many doctors had stuff they made on their own.

At home early to rest up, their group chat was buzzing.

Panther: are you sure about this, Ryuji?

Skull: what dont u trust me

Panther: frankly no   
Panther: you have a personal grudge on him, you’ll make it sound too personal 

Skull: were gonna beat him anyway

Panther: please don’t get yourselves caught too early

Skull: quit naggin

Joker: we’re counting on you, Ryuji

Skull: ive got it!

‘’I’m not sure about this,’’ Morgana hummed.

‘’He’s a genuine guy, he’ll do his best. Let’s trust him,’’ Akira said.

Their minds were restless but eventually they fell asleep, excited.

***

When they got to the school, the halls were packed and buzzing. Akira tried to see over the crowd and only saw flashes of red posters.

‘’What did he do,’’ Ann said from beside him, having walked up to him. Her phone buzzed and she checked it. She groaned, ‘’Oh my god.’’ Akira leaned over to see the group chat with a photo of the posters set up on the walls crookedly, the kanji mismatched, as if from a magazine.

‘’So, what do you think? Pretty cool, right?’’ Ryuji jogged up to them, grinning widely.

‘’Ryuji, what the hell.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’You look extremely suspicious. The wording too, it sounds like a kid pretending to be a hero.’’

Morgana peeked out over Akira’s shoulder. ‘’And that logo, meh.’’

‘’Oh come on! I looked on the net for similar things,’’ he said. ‘’And it’s definitely having an effect.’’

The students were not shy about being loud, asking each other what Kamoshida did, if the rumours are true, who put these up, until the crowd of students split. ‘’Scram already! Who did this?’’ said their target. Kamoshida looked at them and stalked over. ‘’Was it you? Or you?’’ He looked at Akira and Ryuji, growling.

‘’What are you talking about,’’ Akira said, steely.

‘’Tch, whatever, you’ll be expelled next monday anyway, look forward to that,’’ he smirked. Their view flickered to the castle, the near naked Kamoshida baring his teeth at them. ‘’You really think you can take it? Bring it on, give it a try and see how hard you fail,’’ then turned back to the real one stomping off.

After a beat, Ann remarked, ‘’Well, it did its thing.’’

‘’The calling card won’t have this effect for very long, we have to do it today. It’s our only chance,’’ Morgana said.

‘’No worries, man! We’re gonna take him down!’’ he cheered.

‘’Ryuji!’’ Ann chided. ‘’Keep it down, or do you want to be even more suspicious, if that’s even possible?’’

‘’Come on, I’m excited! Aren’t you?’’

Morgana stared at him. ‘’There is such a thing as caution, you know.’’

‘’Ah fine, stop nagging,’’ he waved them off. ‘’So, we going?’’

Ann hummed. ‘’I don’t think it’d be good to miss school, though. After?’’

‘’The effect should still be strong, he may even be more unsettled after a few hours,’’ Morgana hummed. ‘’Ann-dono is right, let’s go after school.’’

They shared nods and split to go to classes. The whole day the teachers were irritated by the students never letting the rumours go. Nothing they did made them quiet. By the end of the day, the whole school knew.

‘’Oh man,’’ Ryuji said, giddy. ‘’We did this!’’

‘’Yeah yeah, let’s go already,’’ Ann said, not doing a good job of hiding her smile.

The moment their boots hit the ground, they felt the tension thick in the air.

‘’What the hell is this?’’ Skull looked around.

Mona sniffed the air. ‘’This is the security level. Every time a shadow ambushes us, the level rises and when it hits the top, we have to leave at once. We’ve done a pretty good job of not being thrown out so you probably didn’t notice it before, but if we do this time, the calling card will go to waste.’’

They nodded and looked up at the castle. ‘’Time to get serious, huh,’’ Panther said.

‘’Yeah!’’ Mona agreed and jumped. ‘’Let’s go!’’

The final run made them more tense, indulging in less fun than normal. Mona praised them for their skill - ‘’now that you’re actually being serious’’ - and they saved their energy avoiding any fights they could. All of the guards were tense, but that didn’t improve how nearsighted they were.

When they got to the Treasure room, Mona sprinted to the Treasure with a meow.

‘’Mona, wait!’’ Panther called. They ran up to him cuddling the Treasure, a huge golden crown with a shimmer. ‘’What are you doing?’’

He could only respond in joyful yowls.

Skull sighed. ‘’What the hell.’’

Mona seemed to realise where he was and backed away, shaking his head. ‘’Ah, excuse me! Now then, let’s take this with us. Skull?’’

‘’Ugh, why me?’’ he complained but went to try to lift the crown.

‘’You look like you excel in muscle,’’ Mona said, picking up the opposite side of the crown, swaying with the weight.

‘’Why do I feel like there’s an insult in there,’’ he muttered.

The two of them weren’t doing good so Joker and Panther joined in to help. As soon as they went through the doorway of the room, a volleyball struck the crown from their grip. It fell and rolled on the ground, drawn toward its king standing on a dais where it shrunk in a cloud of pink smoke. With a smirk, Shadow Kamoshida picked it up, Cognitive Ann clinging to his side, his arm around her waist.

‘’Go go, Ka-mo-shi-da!’’ she cheered.

‘’I won’t let anyone take this! This proves that I am the king of this castle - the core of this world!’’ he said.

Panther grimaced. ‘’Ugh, rat bastard. That’s how he sees me, isn’t it?!’’

Skull growled, ‘’You pervert, you were waitin’ to ambush us, weren’t you?’’

‘’I just made it easier to find you. I’ll take care of you myself!’’

‘’That’s our line, you disgusting rapist!’’ Skull yelled.

‘’What a selfish misunderstanding…’’

‘’There’s nothing to misunderstand! You committed assaults and kept them a secret!’’ Panther said.

‘’The people around me are the ones who kept it a secret. Adults who want to share in my accomplishments, students who have the drive to become winners… They willingly protect me so that we may all profit from it,’’ he said smugly.

‘’Profit?!’’ Skull said.

‘’There are too many imbeciles who don’t understand that!’’ Kamoshida jeered. ‘’Including naive brats like you and that girl who tried to kill herself!’’

Panther frowned. ‘’True, she’s a total idiot… letting you manipulate her, trying to commit suicide… And I’m even more of a dumbass for not realising it!’’ She looked back up with hatred in her eyes. ’’But no matter what kind of fool someone might be, they don’t need your permission to live their lives!’’

‘’Drop the attitude, you mediocre peasant! There’s no wrong in using my gifts for my gain! I’m a cut above all other humans!’’

Panther laughed. ‘’Above? You mean below, you’re a demon obsessed with your sick desires!’’

He chuckled and laughed, his face an ugly sneer. ‘’That’s right, I’m not like you. I’m a demon who rules this world!’’ His form morphed, shifted and grew. The group backed up and watched as he grew to look demonic and comical, with a long tongue and four arms holding a glass of wine, a baton and a golden fork and knife, as if imitating a god, the crown growing again to fit on his head. At his feet was a trophy filled with bodies of young girls, only their naked legs sticking out.

‘’What the hell…’’ Skull breathed.

‘’I’m allowed to do whatever the hell I want!’’ Kamoshida exclaimed.

‘’You’re wrong!’’ Mona yelled up at him. Joker nodded and readied his weapons, his team falling into formation behind him.

The beast attacked them with volleyballs, fittingly enough, and they attacked with their spells. He didn’t seem to have any weaknesses. The fight was going well enough until Kamoshida healed himself by-

‘’He healed himself? By eating one of those…’’ Mona watched Kamoshida pierce a body with the fork and eat it. ‘’The trophy lets him heal! He need to take it out!’’

‘’Got it!’’

They focused their attacks on the trophy while Kamoshida used the chance to boost his attack and whip them with his tongue. Facing the truth of Kamoshida viewing female students as bodies to consume indiscriminately was disturbing and motivating at the same time. They were going to stop this.

‘’Stop touching it! This is the last time I’m warning you, you’re unworthy of even seeing it!’’

‘’Being told not to do it makes us want to do it even more!’’ Mona quipped.

Their health took a major hit, they had to stand their ground against the tongue and utensils swinging at them, but they felled the trophy. Joker was glad he’d packed plenty of healing items.

‘’No way! This was from when I won the nationals…’’ the demon lamented. ‘’You think you can get away with doing such a thing? Do you realise who I am?! I am Kamoshida…! Don’t you get it?!’’

‘’So what?’’ Joker said, confident in his team’s strength. He was nothing against them.

‘’Bullshit!’’ Kamoshida yelled. ‘’I am above everything in this castle! I am Kamoshida! I’m the king here!’’

‘’You look down on everyone but you’re seriously lame right now, whining like a huge baby,’’ Skull said, pointing his shotgun at him. Kamoshida’s position of sitting on the floor, hunched over didn’t help his case either.

‘’We came all this way to steal that! Will you just give up and hand it over?’’ Panther said.

‘’Silence!’’ Kamoshida commanded. ‘’I won’t let the likes of you take this!’’

‘’You still have the energy to talk like that?’’ Mona said. ‘’Then we’ll have to up our game as well!’’

On Mona’s signal, they set off around him, struck him with dagger, bat, whip and scimitar, too fast to catch, and stood back again. Kamoshida was starting to flag.

‘’I’m the king! If not me, then who deserves it more?!’’ he said redundantly.

‘’Brute force won’t get us far here…’’ Mona sidled closer to Joker.

‘’The crown makes him believe he’s the king,’’ Joker said, barely loud enough to be heard. ‘’We could knock it off.’’

‘’Oh, you’re right!’’ Mona smacked his palm with his hand, if those were hands. ‘’Someone should go, but they wouldn’t be able to battle.’’

Joker thought for a moment, but there was no question in his mind. ‘’You. I trust you to do it.’’

Mona gave him a soft smile unsuited to the situation and saluted. ‘’Sure thing. Keep him distracted for me!’’ he said and scurried off to a terrace close to Kamoshida.

‘’Let’s cover him,’’ Joker said to his team, just loud enough for them to hear. They responded with nods.

They balanced attacking and healing, tougher with half the amount of healers they usually had, until they annoyed Kamoshida enough to not notice a cat sneaking up to him.

‘’I’m the one keeping this school afloat!’’ he declared, as if saying it louder would make it true. ‘’You’re the only ones who don’t respect me, you know! Time to bring out the big guns. Slaves!’’

Mona took the chance to scurry up the pillar to the edge of the terrace.

Kamoshida jumped and spiked a volleyball at them, even though his body looked like it couldn’t stand. Panther cried out and fell back, Skull stumbling. Joker summoned Iravan to help heal them, it was unfair to put it all on Panther. They managed to heal just enough to be conscious and kept striking.

‘’You’re misunderstanding it all! I haven’t sexually harassed anyone! They came on to me because they wanted to get on my good side!’’ he said, probably thinking that excuses would earn him mercy. ‘’Wait! There’s one fewer of you! Where did it go?’’ He whipped his head around.

With a battlecry, Mona pounced on the crown and toppled it over and off. He quickly returned to his position with the team.

Kamoshida flailed in panic. ‘’No! My… my precious!’’ He slumped over.

‘’Good, he’s shaken up!’’ Mona cheered.

Panther smiled at him, eyes bright. ‘’I think we can do this!’’

It wasn’t much of a fight after that. Kamoshida was dejected, as if all of his pride was in the crown. With it gone, his energy was too.

Soon enough, he turned back to his humanoid form, groaning all the way. The crown shrank back to a normal size and rolled toward the team but, before they could pick it up, Kamoshida grabbed it and fled to a balcony, cornered.

Panther raised her gun at him and smirked. ‘’What, won’t run? Aren’t you a great athlete?’’

The panicked man turned to them with a wild sneer. ‘’It’s always been like this… all those goddamn hyenas forcing their expectations on me! I’m doing this all for them! What’s wrong with taking a reward for that?!’’

Skull shifted on his feet, disgusted. ‘’Now you’re makin’ excuses? We’ll do somethin’ about that distorted heart of yours.’’

Kamoshida looked to the side, then over the edge and whimpered.

Panther stepped closer, speaking in a tone colder than ever before. ‘’Scared? You’re seeing the same view Shiho did. I’m sure she was scared too… except she had no choice but to jump. What will you do? Will you jump? ...or would you rather die here?’’ Carmen appeared behind her.

‘’Do you wanna finish him off? It’s your call,’’ Mona said.

‘’No, please wait! Stop!’’ Kamoshida wailed.

‘’Shut up. I bet everyone told you the same thing. But you… you took everything from them!’’ With a cry, she sent a ball of fire at him.

He cried out and ducked but the ball hit the wall, burning the curtains. Kamoshida fell to his knees. ‘’I accept defeat… you want this? Take it,’’ he said and threw them the crown. Joker caught it. ‘’Go ahead and finish me off. You do that… and my real self will go down too.’’

Joker shifted and Skull rubbed the back of his head, wary of killing him but willing to give Panther her choice. She had the most pain here.

‘’You have that right since you’ve won…’’

Panther glared and screamed her anger out, throwing more terrifying fire at him. He didn’t budge.

‘’Ann!’’ Skull called while Joker leapt to stop her.

The attack hit the wall again. Carmen disappeared.

‘’If his mind shuts down, he can’t admit his crimes,’’ Panther said.

After a moment of silence, Mona said, ‘’You’re kind, Ann-dono…’’

Kamoshida bowed his head. ‘’I lost... you’re through when you lose… What am I supposed to do now…?’’

‘’Repent for your sins,’’ Joker said, final.

‘’All right,’’ he said, tone softer than they could have imagined. ‘’I will leave now and return to my real self… I will make sure that I-’’ He dissolved into flakes of light, his voice fading out.

The ground shook beneath them. Mona looked around. ‘’Guys, just so you know, this place is about to collapse! We better run!’’

‘’Wha?’’

Slabs of rock fell from the ceiling and smashed the tiles, kicking up dust. Among their shouts of confusion Joker led the way out, winding through narrow halls and wide spaces. His team barely dodged some pieces of rubble falling from above.

‘’We’re gonna die, we’re so gonna die!’’ Panther cried.

Skull grimaced and rubbed his leg the best he could, didn’t notice rubble in his way and tripped with a grunt. When they stopped and turned to check on him, he waved it off. ‘’It’s okay, guys,’’ he reassured and got back up. ‘’I just haven’t practiced in a while.’’

As they set off again Mona jumped on Skull’s shoulder, then to Panther, then Joker. He was in his cat form. They looked at him bewildered and kept running, a plume of dust and destruction chasing them.

A bright light led them to land outside the school in the alley they had come to frequent. For a few minutes they were panting and clutching the wall, or, in Ryuji’s case, slumped against it. They got a few weird looks but they couldn’t care less.

‘’I can’t believe we made it,’’ Ann gasped.

Ryuji pulled out his phone. ‘’Check the navi!’’

‘’Your destination has been erased,’’ the app chimed.

‘’It’s true…’’ she said.

‘’Treasure?’’ Morgana dove out from Akira’s bag. They looked around and spotted something on the ground. Ryuji picked it up.

‘’What the hell is this?’’

‘’A medal?’’ Ann asked, bewildered. ‘’What happened to the crown?’’

‘’This is his Treasure,’’ Morgana said. ‘’This is what was equivalent to the crown.’’

‘’This is an Olympic medal,’’ Ryuji said. ‘’Perverted bastard was living off of past glory…’’

‘’So Kamoshida should have a change of heart now, right?’’ she said.

‘’Probably,’’ Morgana said, sounding uncertain.

‘’Oi, our expulsion is riding on this,’’ Ryuji said, alarmed.

‘’This is the first time I’ve succeeded. At any rate, it definitely had a strong effect on his personality, the palace disappeared. The desires should be no more.’’

Ryuji groaned, ‘’Ugh, this uncertainty is gonna kill me. Can we check?’’

‘’We’ll keep an eye on it,’’ Akira said. Ann nodded with him.

Morgana stood up on his shoulder. ‘’Come on, guys, we should be happy, we succeeded!’’

‘’Doesn’t really feel like it,’’ Ryuji said and got up with a grunt before anyone could offer him a hand up.

‘’I’m sure it’ll be fine,’’ he said, tail up. ‘’His Shadow said he would return to his real self. He wasn’t human at all but… in that moment, he felt a little human,’’ he sounded thoughtful.

Akira cocked his head at him. ‘’I felt it too.’’

‘’There must be people we saved with this…’’ Morgana trailed off.

Ann looked at him and thought. ‘’Morgana… yeah… yeah!’’

‘’Anyway, let’s just wait, I guess.’’ Ryuji stretched. ‘’We’ll see what happens and if we’re expelled.’’

‘’Let’s go home,’’ Akira said.

When they did, Akira fell back into bed, sore from the fight and mad sprint. Morgana flopped next to him.

‘’Man, I’m beat!’’

His phone buzzed. Not too beat, huh.

‘’Who even has the energy?!’’ Morgana cried.

Panther: thanks so much   
Panther: with this i have gotten my revenge for Shiho   
Panther: i couldn’t have done it without you   
Panther: all of you

Joker: we only did it with your help

Panther: really? if so i’m glad   
Panther: but   
Panther: a world of cognition? it’s weird seeing into people’s hearts   
Panther: speaking of strange, Morgana’s transformation   
Panther: when leaving he became a cat 

‘’Ann-dono is sharp, as expected!’’ Morgana said. He dictated what to type to Akira, who dutifully typed.

Joker: the treasure is the source of the distortion. once that power is gone the distortion is too   
Joker: I dunno

Panther: huh ok   
Panther: Ryuji must be tired   
Panther: see you tomorrow!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me at 2 am remembering I didn't post: oh fuck.
> 
> Okay I hope this reads well enough. I have no clue.
> 
> Edit: where the heck did Koer come from, I guess I didn't catch that autocorrect in a reread. Sorry about that!


	10. Repentance

It was practically impossible to find any corner of the school where Kamoshida’s name couldn’t be heard. The staff were exasperated but the Shujin rumour mill could not be stopped once it got started.

‘’Kamoshida-sensei has taken the day off so PE will be replaced by study hall,’’ Kawakami told the class. Immediately it was overrun with whispers, the hushed tone from weeks ago hopelessly gone. She sighed. ‘’I know you’re all curious but you can talk later, after class.’’

After class, as she said, Akira and Ann met up with Ryuji in the halls.

‘’Are you hearing this?’’ Ryuji asked, excited. ‘’Did it work?’’

‘’It could be the change of heart or…’’ Ann said. ‘’Well, as we said, we can only wait now. Something happened, that’s for sure.’’

‘’We’ll be alright!’’ Morgana planted his paws on Akira’s shoulders.

Ryuji shoved at him. ‘’Mona, you can’t be seen!’’

Akira turned to defend him. ‘’With how distracted the students are, I don’t think they’d notice.’’

Ann hummed, ‘’Well, better be safe, no?’’

Morgana, eager to please Ann, disappeared.

After school Akira agreed to train with Ryuji. It would distract them from their worries, at least, make it easier to wait.

‘’God, I can’t move how I want to,’’ Ryuji complained, stretching. ‘’I went to nationals in the past and now I can't do anything.’’

‘’Don’t say that,’’ Akira told him. He’d seen him in the Palace.

‘’What are you doing?’’ a voice said from behind them. Two boys came up to them. He didn’t recognise them but it seemed Ryuji did.

‘’Takeishi? Nakaoka?’’

‘’You were running here earlier too, weren’t you?’’ The more dominant boy said. ‘’You planning on returning to track?’’

‘’Huh? I didn’t say that,’’ Ryuji defended, drawing back.

‘’Now that I think about it, this is where you used to practice. When we had our team, the one we don't have now because of a certain someone. The least you could do is leave this place to us.’’

‘’Leave him alone.’’ Akira pulled on his Joker persona to stand up to them. After what he’d seen this was nothing.

‘’Hanging out with him?’’ The boy said. ‘’You should be careful, if he gets mad he’ll hit you. His dad was the same, after all. It's in his blood.’’

‘’That has nothing to do with it,’’ Ryuji said, ashamed but stubborn.

‘’You guys are pretty alike, huh?’’ The boy asked derisively. ‘’Everyone just dealt with Kamoshida like grown ups do. No matter how hard he pushed us, it was for the team. You stomped on all our efforts. It was stupid to think of you as one of us.’’ His piece said, he turned and walked off, his friend trailing after him, probably just there as support. Or audience.

Ryuji sighed, kicking at the grass and thinking for a moment. Then, he said, ‘’When he mentioned my dad, I wanted to punch him…’’ he rubbed the back of his head, ‘’but I'm calmer now thanks to you. I’m glad you were here, man.’’ He smiled.

Akira smiled back and patted him on the shoulder. ‘’Always.’’

When they were tired and sweaty, they visited the bathhouse. Ryuji could make any place feel like he belonged there so there wasn’t much to be awkward about. The hot soak helped their sore muscles, both from their training and the previous day.

After a soda in Leblanc - ‘’Coffee? No way, ugh. No offense, Boss!’’ - where he wanted to convince Sojiro that his friend was fine but was waved off, Ryuji headed off and Akira rested in bed, when his phone buzzed.

Panther: I went to talk to Shiho today

Panther: told her we paid her back

Panther: she's not awake yet

Skull: hey you didnt do anythin wrong tho

Skull: aint that right akira

Joker: it was all Kamoshida’s fault

Panther: but I don’t deserve to be her friend

Panther: I have to do what I can now

Panther: if I don't I don't know how I could move forward

Skull: youre a fighter huh

Skull: didnt realise in middle school

Panther: it's all because of you guys

Panther: it’s a little embarrassing

Panther: thanks again guys

***

Akira woke up to a Sunday. What a wild week. He took his time waking up and getting dressed, and went down where, as usual, a cup of coffee was set out to keep him patient while a plate of curry arrived a minute later.

He ate in silence, sure Sojiro could see his gratitude. The tv chattered on.

Not sure if they would need more things, Akira decided to head out to work a bit, get some money. Morgana was extremely bored by this all and went out to venture into the city. Akira felt a pang of worry but he knew he could trust Morgana to take care of himself.

Skull: so tomorrows the board meeting

Skull: ugh its killing me

Panther: agreed there

Joker: we’ll just have to wait and see

Skull: u rite

Skull: night guys

***

The school was even louder than the day of the calling card. An assembly was called and the students didn’t need any prompting to go. It was the first time Akira was in the assembly hall, so at least it wasn’t hard to locate when he just had to follow the crowd. The whole way he heard people talking about the card, the rumours, that it must be a prank, but where did Kamoshida go?

Kobayakawa stepped up on the stage, in the same comical yellow suit, and addressed the students.

‘’Suzui will be okay but it will take her some time to recover,’’ he said, putting on a face of concern. ‘’I’d like you all to think about the importance of life and- Kamoshida-sensei, why are you here?’’

To the surprise of everyone present, Kamoshida had entered from a side door and got on the stage to turn to them, the crowd silent as he walked. He looked sickly. ‘’I have been reborn,’’ he said. It would seem he couldn’t resist being dramatic about anything. ‘’And so, I would like to confess.’’ His voice wavered.

‘’Huh?’’ Ann said beside Akira.

‘’I’ve been a horrible teacher. I have said bad things to students, physically abused the teams, and sexually harassed the female students. The reason Suzui jumped was me.’’

Questions were shouted at him but he ignored them, like a star on a podium. He fell to his knees in a familiar way, like a king by a balcony.

‘’I thought of the school as my own castle, I thought of myself as its ruler. I told students they would be expelled simply because I didn’t like them. That won’t happen, of course,’’ he reassured and looked up, his eyes finding Akira and Ryuji. They were eyes filled with regret and humanity. Something Akira had never associated him with. It was jarring. ‘’I have done such bad things to innocents. I have been a pathetic excuse of a human. No, less than human….’’ He bowed his head. ‘’I must pay for my crimes with my life.’’

Kobayakawa seemed to finally shake himself off. ‘’Kamoshida-sensei, please get off the stage now.’’

‘’Don’t run!’’ Ann shouted. The crowd turned their heads toward her almost in unison. They were probably enjoying the show. ‘’Shiho is alive, the incident happened but she lives! So don’t you dare run!’’

‘’You’re right,’’ Kamoshida said, and isn’t that something Akira had never thought he’d hear from his mouth. ‘’I have to pay for my crimes. I did horrible things to Takamaki-san, I tried to use Suzui as a pawn to sleep with her. How pathetic…’’

There was a collective gasp.

‘’Starting today, I quit being a teacher and will turn myself in to the police.’’ He looked up. ‘’Someone, please call the police!’’

‘’Woah,’’ Ryuji said beside him. Akira nodded. ‘’This is so surreal.’’

Kobayakawa pushed lightly at Kamoshida, who didn’t budge. ‘’Get off the stage. Students, the assembly is over, go to class now!’’

The students lingered and filtered out gradually, the air filled with so many conversations it was almost deafening.

‘’The calling card was right!’’ ‘’He confessed, like it said!’’ ‘’Wow, what a piece of shit person.’’ ‘’The thieves did it!’’ ‘’How did it happen so fast?’’

‘’He really had a change of heart then?’’ Ann leaned closer to ask Akira over the din. He nodded.

‘’Looks like it,’’ Ryuji said, shuffling closer. ‘’But was this right?’’

‘’This was better than letting him keep going,’’ Akira said.

She nodded firmly.

To their surprise, though, students approached Ann from all sides. ‘’We’re sorry, Takamaki.’’ ‘’We didn’t believe you.’’ ‘’You weren’t his girlfriend by choice, that must have been so hard.’’ ‘’’I misunderstood you and spread rumours about you, I’m sorry.’’

Mishima found them too, probably not too hard with how people crowded around them. ‘’I’m sorry, Takamaki-san. We all knew and averted our eyes.’’

‘’Huh,’’ she said.

‘’I did terrible things to you, I hope to make it up somehow.’’

‘’Guys, it’s alright. It's in the past now,’’ she said but people insisted they were sorry, until finally they listened and left.

‘’Huh. Guess Kamoshida wasn’t the only one who had a change of heart around here…’’ Ryuji remarked.

‘’We did it.’’ Ann smiled at them, warm and true.

‘’Then you should tell her,’’ he said, gentle. They shared a smile and nod.

Frantic teachers kept trying to get still lingering people in the classrooms and seemed to be having marginal success. Students dispersed gradually.

They met up on the roof after school.

‘’Holy shit, you guys,’’ Ryuji laughed. ‘’We did it! He confessed! And he didn’t shut down! Score!’’

‘’Indeed,’’ Morgana climbed from Akira’s bag and jumped to sit primly on the desk he’d claimed. ‘’It’s probably because we convinced him to repent on his own. So that’s the key, is it…’’’ he hummed. Akira was a little worried about how much they assumed Morgana knew and how much he actually knew.

‘’It almost went south,’’ he said. ‘’Good job, guys. Have you told Shiho?’’

‘’I did,’’ Ann said, relieved. ‘’You know, she was awake for a minute, spoke to me.’’

‘’Woah, for real?’’

She smiled sadly. ‘’She’s nowhere near okay but she… She will be. I told her about Kamoshida, and she… Apologised.’’ Her voice wavered, but she persisted. ‘’Her mom said she might want to transfer and she agreed. Her past will follow her anyway but here it would be the heaviest.’’

Ryuji shuffled in place. ‘’Oh man, that’ll be lonely.’’

‘’It would hurt more to be here,’’ she said.

‘’You can always see her when you’re alive. She's lucky to have you as a friend.’’

She shook her head. ‘’No, I’ve been a terrible friend! I should apologise to her...’’

‘’Nonsense! Kamoshida is at fault,’’ Morgana crowed.

‘’Dude, you almost killed a man,’’ Ryuji pointed out.

‘’Ann, I’m proud of you for being the bigger man there,’’ Akira praised.

‘’I just wanted him to apologise directly.’’

‘’You’re so kind, Ann-dono.’’

‘’Guess you’d have felt bad if he’d turned into a shell.’’

Her eyes glinted with morbid glee. ‘’Nothing like that. He has to live with this guilt for the rest of his life. I think that’s worse than a quick death.’’

A moment passed, then Ryuji said, ‘’Shit.’’

‘’Well, that’s one case closed,’’ she said, dismissing the moment. ‘’There’s something bothering me, though, why was there a castle just for Kamoshida?’’

Morgana shook his head. ‘’It’s not just him; anyone with desires distorted and powerful enough can have a Palace.’’

‘’Anyone?’’

‘’You want to check?’’

‘’Nah, at least not now,’’ Ryuji said. ‘’It’s gonna get busy now, we don’t want to look suspicious either.’’ Akira was glad he’d learned some restraint, or maybe his most immediate problem had been solved and he could relax.

‘’Nobody knows what we do in the Metaverse. But suit yourself, it would be good to rest a bit, that’s for sure,’’ Morgana said, and Akira smiled. How did he know Morgana would say that, huh? ‘’There’s already rumours about you two blackmailing Kamoshida, or threatening him with violence; I guess it’s hard to believe a group like us just sprung up out of nowhere. But the people who knew what he did, they think the people who posted the calling card did it.’’

Ryuji nodded. ‘’Huh, alright.’’

‘’So that medal,’’ Ann said. ‘’It’s not real, right?’’

‘’Yup,’’ Morgana said.

Ryuji caught onto her thought. ‘’So we can sell it?’’

‘’Well, yeah.’’

He whooped. ‘’Sweet!’’

‘’Hey Ryuji, you know that money I lent you in middle school? You still have that dolphin stuffed animal?’’ Ann eyed him.

‘’Dolphin?’’ Morgana piped up.

He deflated. ‘’There’s no way it was that much!’’

‘’Well, if I add interest…’’ his eyes grew wide and she cackled, ‘’I’m kidding, we’re cool. We were at an aquarium and he wanted to buy a dolphin.’’

‘’It was a present for my mom, jeez, lady…’’ He huffed.

‘’Alright, a job well done?’’ Morgana said. He got nods and smiles. ‘’Let’s go home for now, Akira can go to that weapons shop to try to sell this.’’

He nodded, that was probably the best place to sell something like this, even this shady. ‘’On second thought, it might be suspicious to do it today.’’

‘’Oh, you’re right!’’ Morgana agreed. ‘’That’s our leader for you.’’ Akira preened in the praise.

He went out to work so he didn’t have to think about much for a few hours and went home pleasantly tired. As expected, his phone was buzzing.

Skull: im excited man

Panther: we have to celebrate!

Skull: hell yeah where to

Panther: there's this place I wanted to take Shiho

Panther: we could check it out

Skull: hey u can still do it

Skull: but i guess we can scout it out

Skull: wat is it

Panther: the buffet at Wilton hotel

Skull: wait aint that place expensive

Panther: so are medals

Panther: we can get an hour pass, might have some left over too

Skull: sweet

Panther: yea that’s what I’m hoping for too

Panther: what do you think, Akira?

Joker: sounds good

Joker: Morgana says we have to take him with and sneak him fish

Panther: but of course

Skull: man im excited

Skull: when tho

Panther: thursday?

Panther: and sell the medal tomorrow?

Joker: gotcha 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this guy's done, finally. We have our team, and we're getting to the bigger canon divergence too! Gonna run out of what I wrote in November soon though so after that I'm gonna slow down on posting. I'll try my best though!


	11. Let's Keep Going

Akira woke up with a smile, looking forward to tomorrow.

A cup of coffee waited for him, adding to his good mood. When he finished it, Sojiro tossed the extra apron at him. ‘’It's Golden week, right? Make yourself useful,’’ he grumbled without much genuine ire.

Washing dishes was peaceful, which left his attention up for grabs, a chance the tv took gladly. Kamoshida was being talked about on the news, his arrest and his shocking crimes. For some reason they even showed photos that looked like they were taken by students, Akira’s bet was that they were taken from social media.

‘’Is that your school?’’ Sojiro said. Akira nodded, at which he sighed. ‘’Shit may be going down but you keep your nose out of it, you hear?’’

Akira nodded again, glad he couldn’t see his smile. It was a bit too late for that.

The bell jingled and there were two pairs of feet making sound. One light, the other steady. He looked over his shoulder to see Wakaba and Futaba. Sojiro predictably brightened up, trying to hide it and fooling no one, and made them their coffees. They asked each other about their days idly while Futaba looked at Akira, hard.

Akira held steady, not budging. She stared for a few more seconds, then seemed to let it go, or at least break to drink coffee. She sighed and teased Sojiro, who quipped back.

The mood was laid back until the bell rang again. Akira turned to find someone unfamiliar, her heels clicking on the floor sharply. Futaba shrank behind her mom.

‘’What do you want?’’ Sojiro asked the woman.

‘’You must know something about what happened at Shujin,’’ she said, her tone confident and nearly aggressive.

‘’Ridiculous, of course not,’’ he said, looking quite like a moody cat.

‘’Your research, it might pertain to this,’’ the woman said to Wakaba.

‘’Nonsense,’’ she said, colder than Akira had heard. ‘’Please leave.’’

The woman swept her eyes over them and huffed. ‘’Of course. You’d do well to not dismiss me so easily, though.’’ She left, clicking her way out. Akira was glad she let the door close on its own, she could have slammed it and there was glass in it.

Sojiro gave a long sigh. ‘’I swear.’’

Akira looked at the adults, who seemed to be familiar with this. Interesting. 

***

And so he got off the train at Shibuya and went to Untouchables.

‘’Kid. What the fuck.’’

He kept a poker face and stared Iwai in the eye. After a tense silence he huffed.

‘’What the hell are you even doing. Is anyone gonna be looking out for this? I don’t deal in fakes or stolen goods.’’

‘’You’re safe,’’ Akira said.

Another long silence of staring. ‘’What the fuck,’’ he muttered and picked up the medal to look at it and turn it around for a while. He sighed, put it in some drawer and went to the register. ‘’I’ll give you 30 k, that good?’’

Akira’s eyes widened, breaking his calm facade. He could hear a peep from his bag.

‘’This looks like gold so take it. I won't be as generous next time. That being said, help me out,’’ he said and shoved a paper bag at him. It was heavy. ‘’Hold onto this and bring it back next time.’’

He nodded numbly, took the money and bag, and turned to leave. Before he could leave, though, a stern looking man barged in. Walking up to Iwai, the man said, ‘’You know what we’re here for, right?’’

Iwai smiled, smug. ‘’You have any proof, detective?’’

‘’What’s with the attitude?’’ the man grew annoyed.

He gestured lazily about the shop. ‘’You can look around, if you want, but you won’t find anything. Not when customers see, though, I don’t need my business interrupted.’’

They both glanced at Akira. ‘’Fine. You won’t get away with this,’’ the detective said and left.

Iwai looked at Akira with a meaningful expression. ‘’You be careful.’’

Catching the meaning as ‘keep your head down’ Akira nodded and left for home. Of all the places to keep his head down, a weapons shop was definitely higher than his school.

While waiting for his train in Shibuya station, he texted his friends.

Joker: so

Joker: 30 k

Skull: DUDE THATS SICK

Skull: for real?

Panther: holy shit   
Panther: we can go to the buffet and them some   
Panther: *then

Skull: siiiick

Joker: he gave me some kind of bag

Skull: well whats in it

Joker: I dunno

Joker: scared to open it

Joker: what if it's a gun or something

Skull: oh yeah

Skull: then uh

Skull: ignore it?

Panther: well that's productive

Skull: what else can he do with it

Panther: tru

By the time he put his phone away, his train had arrived. When he got home, Sojiro told him to wash the dishes, so, setting his bag on a barstool, he left his jacket upstairs and tied on the apron.

There was never much work to do around the cafe so he was free soon. He kept an eye on Sojiro and saw that he was a bit more tightly wound. His guess was the woman from the previous day was the cause.

‘’A buffet! Akira, can you imagine what will be there?!’’ Morgana said, trotting up the stairs after him.

‘’A buffet.’’

‘’Well, yeah, but…’’ Akira let Morgana’s words fade out as he set down his bag, put the paper bag in the back of the shelf unit that stood beside his bed, stacked his books on the table and checked his planner. When Morgana noticed, he commented, ‘’Oh yeah, exams are coming soon. Good thinking! I’d bet all my money on Ryuji having forgotten.’’

‘’You don’t have any money,’’ he quipped, deciding which subject was his weakest.

‘’Hush you.’’

Having something waiting for him the next day made studying easier and soon enough he felt a bit better about the studies he had been neglecting. Morgana made sure he didn’t overwork himself into a daze and end up not remembering anything he’d read.

Panther: hey guys

Skull: yea?

Panther: you saw the news, right?   
Panther: they were talking about Kamoshida

Skull: oh ye i saw

Panther: did they say anything about Shiho?

Skull: from what i saw no shes safe

Panther: oh thank god   
Panther: in any case I didn’t expect the reaction to his confession to be so big

Skull: its like him going down inspired them to speak up   
Skull: if only theyd done it from the start

Joker: they were just scared   
Joker: and we were persistent enough to get him

Panther: *pissed off enough

Skull: yeah that   
Skull: well thats done   
Skull: all weve gotta do is eat good food n move on

Panther: you won’t be disappointed ^^

Skull: hell yea

***

They met up in Shibuya and went to the hotel. It was definitely more expensive than anything they’d ever been to, save maybe Ann, and the staff looked skeptical at them having the money to enter. They weren’t stopped, though, and started their two hours of good food full of excitement.

They stacked their plates high with whatever struck their fancy, which ended up being too much for even the three of them combined.

‘’Oh that was so good!’’ Ryuji slid down in the comfy armchair he’d chosen, his plate on the wide table joining many more.

‘’Of course, it’s a famous hotel,’’ Ann said, sitting a bit better poised than Ryuji, which wasn’t saying much, really. ‘’Did you hear that the police came to investigate at the school?’’

‘’That’s troublesome,’’ Morgana said, standing in the bag but not getting out, his black fur blending in easily enough with the bag. The lighting wasn’t that intense so he’d be safe.

Ryuji shifted and sat up. ‘’It’d be a problem if our names came up, but people at the school seemed to be really into it. ‘’Those thieves really can steal hearts!’’ I heard them say. They probably don’t actually believe it, but some people are thankful. See, look,’’ he said and pulled out his phone, leaning forward to show them. On the screen was a site in black, white and red, reminiscent of their calling card.

Ann raised an eyebrow. ‘’Phansite?’’ she leaned closer and read out loud, ‘’’’Thank you for giving me courage’’, ‘’now I can try my best too’’, ‘’thank you for taking him down’’... wow.’’

‘’Doesn’t that feel good?’’ Ryuji said.

‘’I wonder what they think actually happened…’’

‘’What will we do now?’’

‘’How are we doing on time?’’ Akira asked.

‘’Oh?’’ Ann checked. ‘’It’s been an hour, we have another left. Oh my gosh, I have to try the sweets!’’

Morgana whined, ‘’You’re making me hungry!’’

‘’You’re gonna get fat,’’ Ryuji said.

‘’Shut up,’’ she said without pause. ‘’How much would even one cake cost? When else would I have the opportunity? Oh, they looked so nice...’’ she sighed. ‘’Let’s go get some more!’’

It felt strange walking around with his bag but he could never leave Morgana. ‘’The entry fee is 8000 yen, incredible…’’ he said. ‘’Could you get me some fish?’’

He nodded and took a few things for himself and Morgana. On the way he heard the adults in fancy clothes talking about Kamoshida, as well as complaining about his group being there. Back at the table, his friends had returned.

‘’Do you think you can eat all that?’’ Ryuji asked skeptically.

‘’Nah but I gotta.’’

They hurried to eat what they had while they had time. Akira had found a smaller plate that he used to give Morgana his food, set peculiarly on the couch.

‘’Guys, can you help me?’’ Ann said, looking between her cakes anxiously.

‘’Nah, you did this to yourself,’’ Ryuji said, which was mean but true.

‘’My belt feels too small,’’ Akira said. ‘’I gotta go to the bathroom.’’

‘’Me too,’’ Morgana said.

‘’Me three,’’ Ryuji said and got up. ‘’Ann, watch our stuff.’’

‘’Yeah yeah,’’ she said as they walked away.

‘’You really did mean ‘’eat until we throw up,’’ huh?’’ Morgana remarked.

They barely found the nearest restroom but it was closed for cleaning. Ryuji whined all the way until they found the elevators and kept shifting on his feet while standing in line.

An important looking man flanked by bodyguards brushed past them and in front of the elevator. His orange sunglasses were a crime against humanity.

‘’Hey!’’ Ryuji yelled.

The man looked over his shoulder, derisive, and scoffed. ‘’What are children like you doing here?’’

‘’We have every right to be here! Stand in line like everyone else!’’

‘’Tch,’’ he said and turned back, his henchmen stepping between him and them.

‘’What’s with this guy’s attitude,’’ Ryuji muttered to Akira.

‘’This man,’’ Akira said quietly. He felt a surge of pure, undiluted hatred. ‘’He…’’

He felt a sting in his shoulder and turned to look at Morgana, his paw on his shoulder. ‘’Don’t.’’

They watched the man until he got on and left.

‘’Damn, how rude can a guy be,’’ Akira heard. He could barely hear it though, because his thoughts were blank, like they were overflowing and becoming an indecipherable jumble. Following Ryuji, they went to a different floor and visited the restroom, and returned to Ann, who was fuming.

‘’What happened?’’ Ryuji asked.

‘’It was nothing, just a rude lady. She bumped into me, dropped her plate and blamed it on me. Looked at me like I don’t belong here.’’

‘’Yeah, it was the same for us,’’ he said. They sat down in their spots, contemplating. ‘’We can’t forgive this. There’s way too many shitty adults out there who get away with everything, like that man by the elevator. Hey, Mona?’’

‘’Yeah?’’ Morgana said.

‘’Anyone can have a Palace?’’

‘’If they have strong distorted desires, yeah.’’

‘’So we can steal their Treasures and change their hearts?’’ A grin grew on Ryuji’s face. ‘’So let’s keep going after them!’’

‘’Do we have the right?’’ Ann asked, which was a concern Akira shared.

Ryuji shrugged. ‘’They don’t have the right to do what they do and yet they do. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, and it’s the right thing to do. The students didn’t believe it was actual thieves who got Kamoshida but they were inspired by us.’’

Akira looked up, the steel of Joker’s eyes on his face. ‘’If we don’t protect them, who will?’’

‘’Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!’’ Ryuji cheered.

‘’You have a point. If I stand by and let them get away with anything when I have the power to stop them, I’ll return to who I was before,’’ Ann hummed.

‘’I’m not opposed. I can train you guys up to be unstoppable thieves,’’ Morgana said.

‘’Then it’s settled.’’

‘’Alright!’’ they cheered.

‘’So what will we call ourselves?’’ Morgana asked, eager.

‘’Pink diamonds!’’ Ann said.

‘’No way, that makes us sound like a baseball team,’’ Ryuji said, which was fair.

Thieves of hearts… ‘’Thieves… The Phantom Thieves of Hearts,’’ Akira said.

‘’Hell yeah!’’

Ann smiled deviously. ‘’Oooh, mysterious! I like it.’’

‘’I agree with Ann-dono! Great idea, Joker!’’

He smiled at his new team. ‘’Let’s do this.’’

‘’You’ll be our leader, right?’’

He shrugged, he felt like it had been heavily implied. ‘’Sure.’’

‘’So who will we target?’’

Ryuji shifted, eager. ‘’How about we focus on the big fish. If we target them, it’ll probably be on the news. Oh man, imagine the splash of that...’’ he sighed.

‘’Then more people will believe in us… That’s a good idea, Ryuji!’’ Morgana perked up.

‘’That’s true,’’ Ann said. ‘’The more people hear about us, the more they will feel braver and stand up for themselves. But if we do just whoever, it doesn’t feel right.’’

‘’So we reduce it to someone everyone agrees on.’’

Morgana nodded, joined by Ann. ‘’Okay, that settles it!’’ She checked the time on her phone. ‘’Oh shoot, our time’s up. Let’s go?’’

Later on when Akira was lounging on the couch in his attic his phone buzzed. He smiled, this was becoming common and made him feel warm, accepted. He decided to change the group name to ‘’Phantom Thieves’’ and felt his smile grow wicked.

Skull: you saw that poll on the site?   
Skull: 6% think we’re real   
Skull: lets get it higher!!   
Skull: if we get someone big theyll have no choice but to believe it was us   
Skull: oh man this is exciting

Panther: yeah!   
Panther: let’s do our best from now on!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend said ''i cant believe shido was so much of an asshole twice he created the PTs'' and they are absolutely right.

**Author's Note:**

> This hasn't all been written out, or edited, so it'll be spotty, I think. You can only keep a story in your head for so many months until it comes out. Inspired by many fics, mainly The Immortal Realm of Barbelo (which is gold and I love it). Gonna try my best at this!
> 
> The start is kinda slow and canon compliant, but I'm working on it.
> 
> Also, the one who met Goro was not Akira, in this fic. Don't want to lead people on, just in case.


End file.
